Meals that will even make KIDS eat SPINACH!

The two key ingredients to maintaining a healthy diet are viewing food as nutrients and medicine for your body and having fun eating and cooking at home.

The Oprah Winfrey Show recently hosted Jessica Seinfeld , and she promoted her new cookbook “Double Delicious.”  I LOVE this cookbook because most of the recipes are healthy and easy to prepare.

Jessica adds pureed vegetables into every recipe!  Pureeing is an excellent way to “hide” healthy food as a way to trick picky eaters into giving their bodies essential nutrients for optimal living.

James and I decided to have a little fun for the beginning of the year and cook every recipe in the Double Delicious cookbook!  So far, we cooked about 15 recipes from the book and they are ALL delicious. 

We cooked a cinnamon bun recipe that, believe it or not, had pureed sweet potatoes and cauliflower as key ingredients!

 I only minimally modify the recipes in Double Delicious and most of the time the main modification is adding MORE of the pureed vegetables than the recipe requires.  The concept of pureeing is awesome, but in her recipes, she only adds between 1/4-1/2 cup of pureed veggies for meals that yield 6-8 servings.  Increasing the quantity of puree doesn’t alter the taste of the recipes (most people don’t even notice the puree) and the body gets more of what it needs!

Enchilada prep- this meal lasts 2-3 dinners!

Chicken Enchiladas is our favorite recipe (so far) from the book- this is a great recipe to use up the extra home made salsa from the Funky Tortilla Casserole

Sweet Apron Jimmy!

Click here to print the Chicken Enchiladas recipe:  Chicken Enchiladas

 

Thou Shalt Not Waste: Funky Tortilla Casserole

 

I used to grocery shop aimlessly! I would throw a few Cheeze-Its and sale items in the cart and top it off with a couple of bananas and call it a trip.  I had no rhyme or reason to my madness.  Consequently, James and I ate more, spent more, and threw away more than we both realized.

James prepping the casserole (he tolerates my pink needs)

Today we have a strict $500 per month food budget.  Food is EXPENSIVE, but we learned that meal planning is one of the best tricks to stay within our food budget.  We literally have a plan for every piece of food we buy.  Some call us insane, and I would agree.  However, I am proud of our meticulous food planning skills, and I will tell you why.

  

1.     More than half the food produced in our country is wasted, I am happy that we waste little to NO food, EVER

2.     We feed our bodies exactly what they need

3.     We save TONS of $$ which translates to paying down DEBT

4.     We don’t stress about “what’s for dinner?” every night because we already know!

5.     We have fun cooking at home and eating our crazy healthy food concoctions

I have the easiest, most delicious super food recipe to share!  This recipe was approved by my Dad, my siblings, and our two great friends in Boston- it’s a keeper!

This funky tortilla casserole is packed with seven super foods: beans, spinach, whole wheat, tomatoes, chicken and yogurt!  You will get six healthy servings from the dish; James and I eat one casserole for dinner for three nights. The homemade salsa used to create this dish yields about five or six cups, so we always plan another dinner that requires salsa.

Funky Tortilla Casserole- fresh from the oven!

Bone Appetite!

 
Print Recipe Here:  Funky Tortilla Casserole
Print salsa recipe here:  Homemade Salsa

5 Super Hot Spots for Food!

Okay, this is a little sneaky, but totally, worth the potential punishment I may encounter.  This summer, I moved in with my Dad and gave him a top of the line health reform plan: I invaded his kitchen with SUPER FOODS!  Surprisingly, he enjoyed nearly all of his super food breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals.  However, the big question was: “could he maintain this type of eating when James and I moved out?”  My little brother, the skeptic, said: “no way, Kelley!” 

Last weekend, I went home for a short visit, and I was pleasantly surprised!  I snooped around in the kitchen, and here is what I found:

Hot Spot # 1: Front of Refrigerator:  A complete list of super foods and their sidekicks’ to provide motivation and reminding (okay, I planted this there before I left).

Hot Spot #2: Freezer: Stalked full with frozen super fruits and vegetables.  He even had a few convenient super foods!  A++

Hot Spot #3: Inside Refrigerator:  The fridge is stocked with non-fat Greek yogurt (this took him about a week to adjust- okay he might still be adjusting), oranges, apples, pumpkin seeds, white meat turkey burgers, almond milk, and carrots!

Hot Spot #4: Counter Top:  I found evidence of an empty loaf of organic whole wheat bread (which means he didn’t just plant this bread here for my arrival- someone ate the loaf).  I believe my brother and sister converted to whole wheat bread, too (they used to insist on white which is nothing but sugar and chemicals- who wants their loved ones eating that!!?)  I also found evidence of preparation in progress: turkey meat thawing on the counter!

I love that he saved $1!!

Hot Spot # 5 Cupboard:  With one turn of the cupboard, I found three boxes of shredded wheat cereal and cheerios.  Additionally, I discovered a jar of natural peanut butter!

*On my way to the bus station, I found an apple and a Tupperware container of carrots in my Dad’s van- he is prepped with snack to combat hunger throughout the day.

Hey, if my Dad can convert (or even semi-convert) anyone can!  Additionally, he lost 4 more pounds since we moved away six weeks ago.