Thai Meatballs

Thai meatballs?! The phrase sounds exotic yet also accessible and after you discover how easy and delicious these little tastes of far off paradise are, they'll quickly earn a place in your heart er um stomach and possibly your favorite go to dinner list. The recipe I adopted these from calls for dark meat turkey and if that's your thing go for it, at my house dark meat doesn't go over very well so I scrapped that and went to my go to starter for meatballs, a turkey breast & ground pork mix. Normally I make everything from scratch but I must admit making complicated sauces with loads of spices intimidates me and I always seem to forget 1 vital ingredient so I cheated a little and bought a green curry simmer sauce. 

Here's what you'll need

3/4 lb ground turkey breast
1/4 lb ground pork
1-2 cloves of garlic-minced
1 hunk of ginger-minced
1 tbs fresh cilantro leaves- minced
Dash of Braggs or soy souce
Big squirt of Sriracha (optional) 
squeeze of fresh lime

A jar of green curry simmer sauce or make your own if you're not a wuss like me :) 

Preheat over to 375 F
Blend all ingredients together (it may stick to your hands a bit  feel free to have flour handy!)
Roll into balls of desired size and place into a 9x11 baking dish
Cook 30-45 minutes depending on size

After they are finished cooking or even a little undercooked but browned on the outside transfer meatballs to a skillet and add green curry simmer sauce and simmer on low with a lid for at least 20 minutes.

I made a quick simple stir fry to go with my meatballs

chopped carrots, onion, celery, broccoli, bell pepper and some frozen edamame cooked on med until everything was soft but not mushy. I started with a heap of coconut oil and as the veggies cooked added to taste ginger, garlic, braggs, rice wine vinegar and a dash of sesame oil, easy and delicious!

When I started cooking I realized I was all out of rice......what?! So....I used quiona instead which worked out perfectly because quiona cooks quicker and it was delicious, who knew?! 

Chocolate Banana Pudding (guilt free!)

Pudding happened to be the first sweet treat I shared with my little when he started solids. The key to this guilt free deliciousness lies in the bananas, the riper the better, basically if they're covered in brown spots you're good to go! Grab these 4 simple ingredients pictured below and a blender or food processor. Blend 2 ripe bananas, 1 tbs. raw cocoa powder, 1 tsp. vanilla and maple syrup to taste (1-2 tbs.) blend until smooth and that's it, easy peasy!

Meatless Monday Healthy Potato Leek soup

I have to admit vegetarian dinners can be a bit taboo in this house, despite me being a a veg head for over a decade (I'm an omnivore now) I find it hard to please my boys without meat. My husband enjoys a high protein low carb diet and that can be a challenge when working with the plant only kingdom. However I can usually get away with it on Monday nights because we typically don't do an intense workout that day and I usually have something delicious up my sleeve.

This week I made potato leek soup, now technically this dish is not completely vegetarian because I opted to use chicken broth, mainly because I had some in the fridge I needed to use but one could easily substitute veggie broth or even lowfat milk and still keep it healthy and delicious.

Now, I love a good creamy potato leek soup that's cheesy and delicious but I promise you this version is just as good and as a bonus we leave out all the unnecessary fat (which I saved for putting loads of butter on my bread!)

Ok, here's what you'll need

4 potatoes of choice chopped into tiny 1/4 inch squares (I used 2 white sweet potatoes and 2 red skinned potatoes because they cook down into creamy starchy deliciousness)

1 giant leek or a couple small ones ends removed slice down the middle wash and then slice into small strips

1/4 onion diced

5-6 carrots washed and sliced into bite sized pieces

3-4 stalks of celery washed and sliced into bite sized pieces

a couple cloves of garlic

a little bit of butter and olive oil

4 C chicken broth

and about a teaspoon of each dried herb

orageno
red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
thyme
sage
parsley
1-2 bay leaves

Your cutting board should look something like this  (as a side note if you live in a warmer climate most of these veggies should be available to you right now locally!)

In a big pot melt on low-medium a heavy tablespoon of butter, when melted place all veggies in the pot and stir around for a bit. When the bottom of the pan looks dry (butter all soaked up) add a swirl of olive oil and let veggies cook and stir occasionally. This part is important it takes a little while but let the veggies cook slowly after about 10 minutes stir in the garlic and herbs.

When the veggies are softish not crunchy but not mushy yet stir in the chicken broth (or broth of choice), switch the heat to low add a lid and let this pot of deliciouness simmer as long as you can wait! I paired this with whole wheat spinach and red pepper bread with a tad of butter.

Bon Appetit!

Chewy Granola Bars (gluten free!)

A few weeks ago we had a tie dye party at our house and all the moms were kind enough  to bring a snack to share. Between you and me there's always that one mom (or dad) who brings the "WIN" and this time it was my friend, Tara with this scrumptious recipe from the Paleo Mom blog. I have made these about a dozen time in the last two months and as I sit here and savor the smell of the most recent batch cooling on the oven I decided these little bars of heaven must be sang about!The paleo diet basically is the absent of grains so instead of being filled with carbs these nut, coconut and chocolate delights boast loads of protein and fiber, making them a great on the go snack. The ingredient list is kind of long but most (if not all) depending on the store you go to can be found in the bulk section. Also it's stressed on the website but I highly recommend reading all the directions first then following them to a T. These little pups are a science but Oh Oh Oh SOOOO WORTH it!

Raspberry Strawberry Coconut Milk Popsicles

Well it's finally summer time here in lovely North Carolina and by summer time I mean well into the 90's everyday. Besides going to the pool on the daily I like to have my freezer well stocked with frozen treats of goodness. This Popsicle recipe is really as easy as putting all three ingredients in the blender and filling up Popsicle molds. I used about a cup of each strawberries and raspberries (frozen) and a can of light coconut milk, Z loves them!  What's your favorite Popsicle recipe?!

Sunday Dinner: Gluten Free Veggie Filled Lasagna Roll-ups

I know,  I know it's Monday but I was so busy cooking yesterday writing everything down seemed, well, daunting :) I like to cook a big meal on Sunday since my husband is home and I have a little extra time in the kitchen. My favorite part about this..... leftovers to send for lunch or to have for dinner another night! Win :) I've been on a long journey the past few years from processed foods to the more natural variety, switching to whole wheat everything was a feat, I mean one of my favorite dishes was a double serving of angle hair pasta with salt and butter! But now that I'm on the  whole wheat train, it's not so bad in fact I'm a bit of a junkie when it comes to health food. The one simple reason, it makes me feel good, like running on a more efficient gasoline. That being said recently I have had a bit of a tummy ache when I eat too much pasta so I picked up these bad boys at whole foods yesterday, they'll set you back about 5 bucks but it works just as well as wheat pasta I think and it makes a whole casserole dish. I did learn 3 important things about this pasta though:

1. It does not puff up at all, what you see is what you get on the plus side though you can boil them all at once.
2. Since we're going to be molding & baking these only cook them for 8 minutes, set a timer! If they get mushy it's game over.
3. Rinse with cold water after draining and let them sit for a moment. Not rinsing will leave you with a starchy residue, nobody wants that!

 For the pasta filling:
2 small green bell peppers
1 stalk celery
1/4 sweet onion
6 carrot
garlic, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes to taste
Pulse everything (I did it one vegetable at a time) until you have small, almost minced chunks
saute on medium heat with a little olive oil until mostly soft (remember it will cook more later)

Spread a small layer onto each lasagna noodle and sprinkle with an Italian cheese if you want to use cheese. I used an asiago/parmesan blend.

                                                                         
                                                                             roll it up!

 Place in a 9x13 baking dish over a layer of marinara sauce. For my sauce I browned 90/10 local organic ground beef, drained the fat and poured a jar of organic pasta sauce over it and let it simmer while I made the veg. mix. You could easily leave out the meat and make this Veg. Head friendly :)

 Cover with sauce and a sprinkle of cheese if using and bake @ 375 for about 30 minutes covered, remove cover and bake for about 10 more minutes.  I would highly advise letting cool at least 15-20 minutes before serving (especially if you have kids!) the insides can be a bit molten. This dish is a commitment but it's totally worth it, and with a little self restraint you can have it later in the week for another meal :)