Zipzicles - Make your own Popsicles!

   I absolutely love finding ways to make things healthier.  Tweaking recipes for things as well as showing my challengers that making small changes means they can still have some of their favorite foods and beverages!!  Who doesn't remember Freezies or those no-name popsicle things from when you were a kid? Especially if you came from a household that was closer to food stamps than private chefs.  Cheap, simple, but completely devoid of any nutrition.  Pretty much all sugar water.

   So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Zipzicles!  Ice-pop pouches so that I can make my very own freezie creations.  Cannot wait to try these, the recipe ideas wouldn't soley be limited to cherry, blue-raspberry, grape, orange, and lemon-lime.  The recipe ideas are pretty much endless if you make your own as well.

   My kids birthday parties, summer BBQ's, picnics, camping, block parties, pool parties, even just a treat on a hot day!  And considering the amount of times my girls are already asking for ice cream and such this idea may also save us some pretty dental bills too! haha.  Or even take Jello shooters to a whole new dimension for the adults to enjoy.  Just don't confuse yours with the kids... that wouldn't be very good!

   Already tried these before? Tell me what your opinions on them are!!

Smore's Shakeology

   It's May Long weekend, so alot of people are out camping and enjoy campfires and of course SMORES!!  With my girls being so young still, plus not having a tent, my husband and I haven't been able to go camping this year for May Long Weekend.  But honestly, i cannot live without smores!! Doesn't even have to be at a campfire!  I mean lets think about this, we got the gooey roasted marshmallow stickyness than the melty chocolate goodness and finally the sweet crispyness of the graham cracker and you have probably my favorite childhood treat. 

Now if only i could make a healthy version...

Oh wait,

I DID!!

This Smores Shakeology recipe tastes like dessert without having any of the guilt or worry that your waistline might expand too!  Plus its got more nutrition than even a fully packed leafy green salad could ever hope to have, and all in one glass!

My kids absolutely LOVE chocolate, so when i make this they usually steal it and I am lucky if i get any at all!! Typically i have to make a 2nd one and hide it from them.  I don't mind though, because they love it, and I love that it is healthy for them.

There is alot of room to play around with the recipe, you can even make it in ice cream and fudgesicles as well!!  Same rule applies to ALL of my shakeology recipes! 

Have you tried a Smores Shakeology recipe?  If you have than i would LOVE your feedback!! Or, if you have another childhood favorite you want me to try to recreate than just let me know!

Teryaki Chicken Stuffed Mushroom Caps

  Its funny, growing up I never would of said MUSHROOMS YUMMY!! But now I love them!!  My oldest daughter really doesn't like mushrooms but my youngest eats everything we put on her plate.  Hubby just likes it when he doesn't have to cook... or do the dishes, haha.  So for lunch I made my husband these amazing Teryaki Chicken stuffed Portebello Mushroom Caps.  He didn't really breather or even look up while inhaling it so I assumed he loved it, or he was starving.  But since he ate a big breakfast I vote for the first option. ;)

Here is what you need to recreate these perfectly portioned caps;

Recipe:

Teryaki Chicken Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Prep Time:

15 minutes

Cook Time:

20 minutes

Ingredients:

2x large portebello mushrooms

1x xtra lean chicken breast, chopped

1/3 cup broccoli, chopped

1/3 cup asparagus, chopped

1/3 cup celery, chopped

1/3 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 tbls low sodium soy sauce

2 tbls teryaki sauce

Avocado Oil

1/4 cup grated cheese

Salt & Pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 375C

2. Scoop out the core of the mushrooms, put a few drops of oil into the caps and cook in oven for 5 minutes

3. Over medium-high heat saute the chicken in soy sauce until half cooked and still pink in the centre.

4. Reduce to low-medium heat, add vegetables and teryaki sauce, cook until chicken is nearly done (max 5 minutes).

5. Scoop mixture into mushroom caps, bake for another 10 minutes.

6. Sprinkle cheese on top and broil until cheese is lightly browned.

Wait 5 minutes before consuming!! The inside is going to be insanely hot.
Enjoy!!

  There are sooooo many things you can stuff inside a mushroom cap, and mushrooms are an excellent source of nutrients!  If you try my recipe or any modification of it than please share with me what you thought below in the comments!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

  Just need to start off by saying this, if you don't already have a slow-cooker, GET ONE!!  It is by far the best investment into family meals you could ever make.  If you are single or cooking for one than you can easily portion out any meals made into easy freezeable portions to save for whenever you want to reheat and eat!  Or for a family meal you will certainly have enough to fill everyones plate as well!  Only negative I have about a slowcooker is that it likes to tormernt you with its delicious aromas throughout the entire day until whatever you have chosen to create is ready.

Speaking of a fantastic aroma, I made some amazing Pulled Pork for dinner the other day and knew when i was shredding it that I just had to share it! Alright, so here is what you need:

Recipe:

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Prep Time:

10 minutes

Cook Time:3.5-4.5 on High
7.5-8.5 on Low

Ingredients:
1x Pork Tenderloin
1x Can of Rootbeer
1x regular bottle of BBQ sauce (I prefer hickory)
1x Medium yellow or red onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup crimini mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1. Put tenderloin in the slow cooker and pour the rootbeer onto it, either cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours,
2. Drain the liquid after 4 hours on High or 8 hours on low when the tenderloin shreds easily with a fork.
3. After shredding the tenderloin, add the sauce, onion & mushroom and cook on low for 20-30 minutes.

4. Serve on lightly toasted bun or in a wrap with some green sprouts or a crunchy bean mix for some consistency change!
Enjoy!!

I have also heard a few people use apple juice or chicken broth instead of RootBeer but have not had a chance to try them out yet.   If you try out my recipe or any modification I would love to hear how it turns out!!  Just leave me a comment below!

Baked Chicken Wings

My husband loves salt and pepper chicken wings, and honestly, SO DO I!!  But we refuse to buy anything resembling a deep fryer just because they are messy, heavy, and they smell horrible if not cleaned out practically daily.  Plus deep frying food is probably the unhealthiest way to cook anything, ever.

Thus, my 4 ingredient baked chicken wings!!

Ingredients total: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 Minutes

1 lb of chicken wings

Himalyan Salt, to taste

Black Pepper, to taste

Paprika, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, toss wings in salt, pepper and paprika before laying out on wire rack (which you want on top of a baking sheet to prevent drippings all over your oven)

Sprinkle a little extra salt and pepper over top of wings before putting in oven to cook for 25 minutes.

Now, these end up nice and crispy without being dried out because they arent sitting in their own drippings.  You can use just about any dry rub on these too. You can even marinade your wings overnight in a large ziploc first if you want to really saturate them with flavour, like hot wings for instance!!

They were so tasty!!

Hawaiian Chipotle Roast Chicken Dinner!!

Mmmmmm, ok so my husband and I are total food nerds.  We love food!! Which unfortunately for his metabolism does not equal a slim trim figure.  I still have a pretty good metabolism but still, looking good and feeling great are two very separate columns these days.

But I digress, for Christmas I won a shopping spree with a friend of mine who sells Steeped Tea and little did i know that Steeped Tea isn't ONLY Tea!!  They have hot chocolate and cheese ball mix and tons of dip mixes and dry rubs and stuff.  Sure they all have Tea IN them but ohmygosh my foodie heart just exploded when i was perusing the catalog.

One item we got was the Hawaiian Chipotle Topper, which has pineapple bits in it and actually smells really light.  Definitely a key ingredient.  Here's the recipe for the chicken;

Total Ingredients: 7 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook Temp: 225 Celsius

Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

1 Whole Thawed Chicken

1 clove garlic

2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

Rosemary (fresh is best)

Paprika

Hawaiian Chipotle Topper (from Steeped Tea)

Do the usual beginnings, you know, preheat the oven, chop your veggies etc.  Than sprinkle your paprika and rosemary on the chicken.  With the topper it does work like a salt and pepper grinder so you have to spend a minute or two grinding it out until you have as much or as little on your chicken as you want.  It is a very light taste so the stronger you want it the more i suggest using.  Using fresh pineapple to include with your veggies never hurt either if you like it really Hawaiian style.  (I couldn't do that cuz my husband doesn't share my pineapple obsession and it was his night to cook)  Add the coarsely chopped celery and onion around your chicken in the dish.  Cover in tinfoil, put in oven, set timer, and walk away!!

Chop Porks, like the kids say

As a parent to a threenager its a constant battle of "what do you want for dinner?" leading into "But i don't WANT dinner!!"  And if its my household than usually that little tiny tyrant really wants Pizza or Chocolate.  Mind you, wouldn't we all love to eat just junk food all the time?  Sadly no can do.

Tonight we made "Chop Porks" as my oldest daughter calls them.  I think she demanded them for dinner specifically because she liked saying Chop Pork over and over again.  Oh well, we were more than fine with it, after all, at least for once she wasn't having a meltdown over wanting pizza!!  We even managed to sneak some Red Quinoa on there and she only refused to eat most of it.  Total win in my books.

So here's the recipe for these awesome "Chop Porks"

Total Ingredients: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 Min

2x medium pork chops (in our case we used 3 because our 2 kids shared one)
1 tbls Avocado Oil or Extra Virgin Olive oil
Seasoning salt (we got ours from Epicure)
Apple Bacon Rub*

Preheat oven to 325F, line a baking tray with tinfoil.  Rub the chops down with the oil than the salt & apple bacon rub.  Bake for 15 minutes than flip, bake for another 15 minutes than take out of the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes.

**Apple Bacon Rub, here is my little secret, i got it from Steeped Tea! Who knew they had meat seasonings?? Absolutely delicious, seriously, it was great!**

For the Quinoa all i did was throw some finely diced yellow onion and celery into the pot about 5 minutes before i had to fluff and serve.  Great way to sneak the veggies into my kids.  The Quinoa totally distracted them.

Can't wait to try out some other recipes!!