15 Bean Soup

It has been snowing and it is so so cold. So of course my comfort food of choice is soup! And I love beans! So I threw all the ingredients in my crock pot and 8 hours later, bam! FOOD!! I soup! Because I can add a huge variety of toppings and make it different every time!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of 15 bean soup dry bean mix
• 2 + 1/4 cups water

• 1/4 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon of each
• minced garlic
• bay leaf 
• paprika
• thyme
• basil
• nutmeg
• pepper

Directions: 

   Throw everything in the crock pot and leave it for 8-9 hours! and then it's done!

Toppings:

• spinach
• avocado
• black rice
• cabbage 
• baby bella mushrooms

I love the colors of all the beans!

2 Bean Soup

SOUP!! Ok, so I don't know if this would classify as "chili" or as "soup". So, I am going with soup. Here is another really easy crock pot soup.

Remember: start this in the early morning if you want this ready for dinner. Or you can start it before bed, and have it be done by morning.

Ingredients: 

• 1 can of black beans
• 1/2 can of kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 large onion, chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon each
• paprika
• oregano
• unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup water

Directions:

• place all ingredients in your crock pot, place lid, and leave alone.
• 9 hours later you have a delicious soup!

You can always add ground turkey, or ground beef, or even sausage!You can add different beans, veggies, and spices! Have fun with it! Make it your own!

Lentil & Quinoa Soup

I LOVE soup. The possibilities are practically endless! Especially during these cold days, when a hot bowl of hearty soup just hits the spot! 

I like lentils. I like quinoa. So both would be even better! My mind works in a vary complex way, I know.

MAKE SURE TO START THIS EARLY MORNING OR BEFORE GOING TO BED

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup lentils
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 + 1/4 cups water
• 1/4 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon of each
• minced garlic
• bay leaf 
• paprika
• thyme
• basil
• nutmeg
• pepper

Instructions: 

This is ridiculously easy. I use my trusty crock pot and dump all of my ingredients together and put the lid on it. Then 9 hours later. Bam dinner. Plus left overs for 2 lunches and next days dinner! 

I love putting toppings on my soups. Here are some of my favorite go to's:

• avocado
• bell pepper
• mushrooms
• spinach
• cabbage
• radishes
• tomatoes
• onions

So, go forth, and don't be afraid of different toppings on your soups! 

Roasted Cauliflower + BBQ Sauce!

I LOVE cauliflower!! I can't get enough of it! Looking through sites like Pinterest for interesting ways to cook cauliflower, let me just say my husband will probably get sick of the amount of recipes I am going to try!

Roasted Cauliflower & BBQ Sauce 

I know there are many ways of doing this. For example you could of chose to bread the cauliflower and then put it in the oven, or you could of completely sauced the cauliflower and then put it in the oven. But if you are like me, and trying to cut down on bread intake and just don't like my food drowned in sauce. This option seemed the best for me. 

Ingredients:

• small head of cauliflower, cut down to the size of florets you want 
• your favorite BBQ sauce. I used Organicville Original BBQ Sauce. 
• gallon resealable bag

Instructions:

• set your oven to 400F 
• place your cauliflower florets in a lightly greased baking pan
• bake your cauliflower in the oven for about 60 minutes, turning them over half way through
• when finished, take them out and let them cool for a little bit on the counter. 
• while you let them cool a little, get your gallon bag and roll the edges outward, making it stand on it's own. (top left square)

• now place all of your cauliflower in the bag and drizzle in some of your BBQ sauce. I used about 2 tablespoons. You can add more depending on personal preference. (bottom left square)
• now close up your bag and shake! until evenly coated
• now you can plate them up and enjoy!
• I drizzled a little more sauce on top and plated them with some spinach and homemade sweet potato fries

Don't be afraid of trying this with different sauces!! I am excited to try this with some red mole sauce!! Yum, cauliflower. Delicious.

Couscous Coconut Milk Pudding

I don't know about you, but I have never tried couscous. I have heard of it, just didn't know what it really was. So my friend and I decided to try it out by making it a couple of different ways. This pudding was one of them and it was delicious! The possibilities are practically endless. Go free and wild with this pudding by topping it with all sorts of different things. We used freshly cut up strawberries and blueberries, but try adding nuts, other cut up fruits, dried fruits, cocoa powder, and shredded coconut.

Couscous is made from semolina flour, and is slightly more nutritious than rice and pasta. it contains more vitamins and minerals than pasta, such as riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, and even more protein than rice.

Couscous Coconut Milk Pudding
servings about 4

Recipe:

• 1 cup whole wheat couscous (Israeli couscous)
• 1 + 1/3 cup milk of choice (I used coconut milk,the stuff in the can)
• cinnamon to taste (optional)
• agave syrup to taste (optional)
• toppings of your choice
• additional coconut milk if you want it not so thick

*I also tried this with unsweetened almond milk in place of all the coconut milk and it was a lot less thick but just as delicious. *

Instructions:

• In a small sauce pan bring the coconut milk to a boil.
• Take it off the heat.
• Add the couscous.
• Let it sit until the couscous absorbs all the liquid.
• Stir in the cinnamon and agave syrup and additional coconut milk if you'd like. 
• Serve it up with your favorite toppings!!

I am a little in love with couscous and you will definitely be seeing more posts about it in the near future!

No Noodle Cashew Stir-Fry

I love stir-fry. Like, I can eat stir-fry all day every day. I mean possibilities are endless with stir-fry. Plus, eating stir-fry is the only time I get to use my chopsticks. And chopsticks are just plain fun.

Cabbage provides fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and folate. And some types of cabbage, like savory cabbage and bok choy, provide beta-carotene, and bok choy also is an important source of calcium. 

You can always add chicken or tofu to this if you'd like. You can serve it with rice too! Experiment with adding different sauces and seasonings. I am a simple eater. I have simple taste buds and use very little seasonings and sauces. 

No Noodle Cashew Stir-Fry

serves about 1

Ingredients

• handful of cashews
• quarter of a small cabbage, chopped
• 3 small carrots, sliced thin
• 1 sliced baby bok choy
• handful of sugar snap peas
• half onion, sliced
• 2 button mushrooms, sliced thin
• half red bell pepper, sliced
• half yellow bell pepper, sliced
• handful broccoli florets
• 1/2 tablespoon of avocado oil
• sesame seeds (optional)

Recipe

• heat the oil in a frying pan
• add all of the veggies and cashews once the oil is hot
• keep stirring it until all the veggies are cooked through
• once veggies are all cooked through and tender put on a plate and top with sesame seeds if you'd like

Prickly Pear Smoothie

Have you ever tried a prickly pear? If you answer is no, don't worry until today I had never tried one. I have to admit that I had to look up how to cut and eat one. I found the super easy instructions for it here. I used a red prickly pear and I was so surprised at how brightly pink it was inside. I mean it was florescent, honestly I thought to myself, "this looks like paint". I loved trying something so new and exotic to me, and PINK!

Prickly pears come in various colors, from greens, oranges, and reds. They are a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and magnesium.

You can usually find prickly pears in your local grocery store in the fresh produce section.

How to cut into your prickly pear

• wash it
• cut off the ends with a knife
• now slice down the body from one cut end to the other (not all the way through)
• grab the skin and pull the skin off the fruit 

there will be a ton of hard seeds in the flesh that you can choose to eat or you can run it through food processor or blender and then run it through a fine mesh sieve. I chose to run the fruit the food processor and then mash it through a fin mesh sieve.

Prickly Pear Smoothie

• a few ice-cubes
• juice of a prickly pear 
• half a banana
• pineapple ring
• splash of pomegranate juice

I put all these ingredients in my food processor and poured it all into a cup. 

Now, you can always adjust or replace ingredients for different fruits and veggies to suit your tastes. 

Purple Sweet Potatoes & Quinoa

In my quest to try and eat a larger variety of food. Now, normally I eat sweet potatoes during the holidays when they are covered in marshmallows and brown sugar. But my husband saw these purple sweet potatoes at the grocery store the other day and surprised me with them. So I decided to bake them like baked potatoes and slice them like purple steaks. I decided to make myself a purple dinner and accompany my sweet potatoes with some black quinoa (which looks purple after it's cooked), and added some spinach . Now, you can pour your favorite sauce on them or even season the sweet potatoes any way you like. But if you are a little odd like me, I just left my sweet potatoes plain. I love the natural flavor of food, so I tend to use very little sauces and seasonings in my recipes.

Sweet Potatoes are high in beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts to vitamin A in your body, high in fiber, and vitamin C.

Sweet Potatoes & Quinoa
serves about 2

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato
• quinoa cooked according to package
• spinach

Recipe

• I just baked the sweet potatoes like I would regular potatoes in the oven
• I cooked the quinoa in the rice cooker according to package

When the sweet potatoes where done, I just sliced them and put them on top of the quinoa and spinach and went to town!

Lentil Stew & Couscous

I was looking for ideas on how to incorporate more couscous in my diet and came up with the idea of making some lentil stew to pour over some couscous. This was so easy to make and it was so good!

Lentils are legumes and are a great source of protein, iron, and fiber. Which can help lower cholesterol and keep blood sugar steady.

Lentil Stew
serves about 4

Ingredients

• 1 + 1/2 cup dry lentils
• 1 can of vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup of cut up carrots 
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of minced onion flakes
• 3/4 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 cup of water
• salt to taste

Recipe

• put all of the ingredients in your crock pot and let it do its thing for 5-6 hours (my little tiny crock pot doesn't have any settings, it just turns on when you plug it in)

Couscous

serves about 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup of golden couscous (quick cooking Moroccan pasta)
• 1 + 1/3 cup water

Recipe

• in a sauce pan bring the water to a boil
• turn off the heat and take the pan off the burner
• mix in the couscous 
• let sit until the couscous absorbs all the water

serve the stew on top of the couscous or mix it all together!