Yummy: Stacked Caprese Salad

If you want some yummy goodness for an appetizer, snack, or light lunch, here it is!!

~Take a fresh tomato from your vegetable garden or the local farmer's market.

~ Wash and slice it.

~ Slice mozzarella (or mozzarella log as I call it) to about the same thickness as your tomato slices.

~ Alternate stacking them on a plate.

~ Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

~ Sprinkle Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper.

~ Chop fresh basil (preferably from your herb garden... It's easy to grow even if you live in an apartment) and sprinkle it over the top. 

~ Enjoy the yummy goodness!!

~ Alternate methods:

    * Place a whole basil leaf between every other layer in your stack rather than chopping it on top.

    * Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar, too.

Yummy: Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili

I must thank Pinterest for this recipe, as I often do. I love getting recipes off there. Slow cookers make life so much easier and keep my husband happy. This recipe was no exception. I will definitely be doing it again.

I added sour cream and cheese to the top, and it was incredible!

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili
Servings: 10

1 onion, chopped
1 16-oz can black beans
1 16-oz can kidney beans
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
2 cans whole kernal corn
2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
chopped fresh cilantro

Combine first 9 ingredients in your slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half an hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Top with fresh cilantro. For added flavor (but also added calories) top with sour cream and cheese. It may be more fattening, but it tastes so good!

Yummy: Breakfast Banana Split

This has become one of my favorite breakfasts. It is so quick and easy to make, it tastes really good, and it's good for you!

Ingredients:
1 ~ Banana
1/2 cup-ish ~ Cottage Cheese
2 tbsp.-ish ~ Strawberry Preserves (or any preserves of your choice)
Dash of Sea Salt
2 tbsp.-ish ~ Peanuts
2 tsp.-ish ~ Flax seeds

Take one banana and slice it in two lengthwise. Put the pieces in a dish as shown. Drop a couple of dobs of cottage cheese on it (the amount may vary depending on your taste). Dabble some preserves of your choice on top of the cottage cheese. My favorite is strawberry. Grind a bit of sea salt on top. Sprinkle a few peanuts and flax seeds on the top.

Super yummy, easy, healthy, and the flax seeds add some much needed fiber. Enjoy!

Yummy: Tilapia Roll-Ups

I found this recipe in the March 2011 Clean Eating magazine. If you aren't familiar with Clean Eating, it specializes in natural, whole, organic foods. My husband and stepson both used to eat very healthy, but they had gotten into a rut of eating very unhealthy. I decided I needed to find some recipes that would be healthy, yet taste good enough to make them want the healthy meal over the unhealthy one. This was the perfect recipe for that! They both loved it!

Minutes to Prepare: 60
Minutes to Cook: 25
Number of Servings: 4

Ingredients:
~   Olive Oil or Cooking Spray
~   3 to 4 Green Onions
~   10 Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles
~   1 Carrot Peeled
~   1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
~   12 oz. Tilapia Filets
~   4 oz. Light Cream Cheese
~   1/2 cup Skim Milk
~   1/2 tsp Dried Dill
~   1/2 tsp Sea Salt
~   2 oz Reduced Fat Mozzarella
~   Fresh Dill for Garnish

Directions:
~   Preheat oven to 350. Lightly mist an 8x8 glass pan with cooking spray.
~   Rinse onions well, trim off white tops and discard. Carefully score the connected layers so you have strands. Set aside.
~   Prepare lasagna noodles according to instructions, rinse, set aside. During the last 90 seconds of cooking add strands of onions to soften, then set aside.
~   Grade carrot, set aside.
~   In a large non-stick pan over medium heat add oil. Heat and add tilapia. Shake pan so fish does not stick. Cover and cook for 3 minutes, then flip and cook for a minute more or until fish is no longer opaque. Remove from heat.
~   Mix cream cheese (or ricotta) together with milk, dill, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk constantly until mixture is melted and creamy. Add half of mozzarella. Stir in carrots and tilapia, and remove from heat.
~   Lay lasagna noodles out on a counter top. Place 2 tbsp of the mixture at the bottom of the noodle, and roll it away from you. Make a bundle that stays together without squeezing out the filling. Tie each bundle with an onion layer and place in the pan.
~   Place remaining mozzarella over bundles and top with dill.
~   Bake for 25 minutes.

You will have a ridiculously yummy, clean dinner the whole family will love!

Yummy: Slow Cooker Pizza Rice

I'm always looking for meals my stepson will eat. He is going through an unhealthy eating stage, so I have to sneak vegetables and healthy foods into his meals. The slow-cooker recipe magazine Fix-It and Forget-It had one labeled "kid-friendly" called Pizza Rice. I decided to give it a shot. This one is not all natural, so I decided to not put it under the natural recipes tab. You can make some substitutions as I did, though, to make it mostly natural.

The recipe in the magazine called for rice, and I chose brown rice. I used fresh mozzarella that I bought from a farmer, and I shredded it myself. I used fresh mushrooms, too. The only store-bought items I put in my pizza rice were pizza sauce, pepperoni, and black olives (I added the black olives to the recipe). I'm going to look into whether or not any nearby farmers sell pepperoni cuts. If I can find that, I will change it next time, as well. And if anybody has a good natural pizza sauce recipe, I'd love to know it!

This was possibly the easiest recipe I have ever fixed, and it turned out good, too. I will definitely be fixing it again!




Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked rice
3 cups pizza sauce
2 1/2 cups water
4.5 oz. mushrooms, undrained if using canned ones
4.5 oz. pepperoni
4 oz. black olives, sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Combine rice, pizza sauce, water, mushrooms, pepperoni, and black olives in slow cooker. Stir, set to low, and cook for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Add cheese just before serving. (I let it sit in the slow-cooker on warm for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese before serving.)