Turkey and Quinoa Burrito Bowls

Turkey and Quinoa Burrito Bowls (4 servings)

• 1 Cup uncooked Quinoa
• 2 cups Chicken broth (or a can of chicken broth and the remainder to make 2 cups water)
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
• 1lb Ground Turkey or Chicken (this weekend I only had ground beef on hand, so that'll work too, it's just not as lean)
• 1/4 Cup Salsa
• 1/2 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 can black or kidney beans
• 1 can corn
• Chopped spinach, fresh
• Salsa or pico (optional)
• Avocado or guac (optional)
• Cheese (optional)
• Tortilla chips (optional)
• Sour cream of tomatillo ranch (optional)

1. Cook quiona: bring chicken broth and quinoa to a boil, cover and steam on LOW for 15 minutes. Take off the heat, quickly stir in 1 Tbsp taco seasoning, recover and let stand for 5 minutes. The quinoa is done, set aside to cool some. *There should be no liquid in the pot when checking at 15 minutes. If there's still liquid, let simmer/steam for a few minutes longer without burning the bottom.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, brown the ground meat of your choice. Drain the fat, put back on medium heat and stir in 1/4 cup salsa and 1/2 envelope taco seasoning. Let this thicken for about 5 or so minutes.
3. Open and drain your beans of choice and corn. Start building your bowl to your liking. Use any taco toppings and make it nachos, or use a bunch of spinach and romaine and make a salad. You can use this for so many things. If you're meal prepping for the week, let everything COMPLETELY cool before building your bowls to store. ENJOY!

Super Easy Tomatillo Ranch (similar to Cafe Rio/Costa Vida)

• 8 oz Ranch dip (1 16 oz Sour Cream, 1 envelope Ranch Dip mix)
• 1 Tomatillo
• 3/4 cup cilantro

1. Throw it all in a blender or food processor, blend until smooth.

Tyler's Ultimate BBQ Chicken – Adapted for the Crock Pot

I LOVED Tyler Florence's The Ultimate Barbecued Chicken, but found it a bit of mess and took much more time than I wanted to spend on it. So, I tried it in the Crock Pot and it rocked!

Tyler's Ultimate BBQ Chicken in the Crock Pot

The Brine:

• 2 quarts water 
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a large knife 
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme 
• 6 chicken legs and thighs, still connected, bone in, skin on, about 10 ounces each

The Ultimate Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 slice bacon 
• 1 bunch fresh thyme 
• Extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1/2 onion, chopped 
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped 
• 2 cups ketchup 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup molasses 
• 2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard 
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika if available 
• Freshly ground black pepper

The Recipe:

For the brine, in a 2-gallon freezer zip bag, add the water, salt, sugar, garlic, and thyme, squish the bag until well combined and the sugar has dissolved. Add the chicken, close the bag and refrigerate 2 hours (or freezer meal it, and freeze now, then throw in the fridge the day before – tried it this way, loved it).

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Wrap the bacon around the bunch of thyme and tie with kitchen twine so you have a nice bundle. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme and cook slowly 3 to 4 minutes to render the bacon fat and give the sauce a nice smoky taste. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly without coloring for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, give the sauce a stir, and turn the heat down to low. Cook slowly for 20 minutes to meld the flavors. Once the sauce is done cooking, remove the bacon wrapped thyme and discard. Take about 1-1/2 cups of the sauce and reserve for serving along side the chicken at the table. The rest of the barbecue sauce will be used to finish cooking the chicken in the crock pot.

Once the chicken has brined, dump the whole bag (chicken and brine – everything) into the crock pot, cook on HIGH for 1.5 hours. Dump the brine from the crock pot. Add the remaining BBQ sauce, cook on LOW for 1.5-2 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through (at least 165ºF through the thickest part of the meat). Serve with the extra sauce.

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If you want to try the original recipe, which I'm sure would be awesome on the grill, find it here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-barbecued-chicken-recipe.html?oc=linkback

THANKS TYLER FLORENCE! Great recipe.

My #OneLittleWord - 2015

I've been really contemplating the last couple days what my #onelittleword should be for this new year. Last year my word was ENDURE. Looking back on 2014, I had a lot of trials and struggles, and I can truly say, at least by the end of the year, I had truly endured the year. It took me until the very end to really get back on my feet, but I'm feeling ready to take on 2015 with confidence.

For 2015, I've picked two #onelittleword s: #HOPE and #BE. I hope to have an increased amount of HOPE for the things I truly want in my life, and to work hard to attain them by BEing my best self yet. I hope to love more, and be loved more. I hope to be my true self again. I hope to be happier. I hope to be more organized. I hope to be a better mom. I hope to be healthier, and more fit. I hope to increase my spirituality and be more like my Savior. I hope to have more hope and to be much more. I'm turning 25 this year, a quarter of a century! I want this year, especially after how difficult last year was, to be my best year yet. Let's party on, and make it awesome, 2015!

Happy New Year to all!

Preparing for Snowpocalypse – Activities, Snacks / Lunches, and Lessons from Children's Books

After our first winter ever with below zero temperatures and snow, and being cooped up for months in the house with no where to go and nothing to do, I deiced things are going to change this year! I am going to prepare for snowpocalypse, or as most people call it "winter," by creating fun full days based on children's books. I haven't quite completed the thought yet, but I've been pinning and googling ideas for what to do.

The plan is to start buy going to the library, checking out a bunch of books for a couple weeks, and gathering materials to make the day a blast!

I got the idea from an activity that was held at the nature center near our apartment. They had a group of 10-12 toddlers, 3-4 years old, and we learned all about worms. They started off by telling them a little bit about worms, then pulled out actual live worms and let the kids touch them and look through a magnifying glass at them. Then they read a book about worms to the kids. After that, the parents helped the kids paint a paper with rubber worms by dipping the worms in paint, placing the rolled piece of paper in a canister, and shaking it, making worm tracks all over the paper. The kids then enjoyed a treat of gummy worms in pudding and oreo crumbs. It was a lot of fun, and got my mind going of how to continue something like that into our daily lives.

So, my plan is to read a book, talk about the book, create a snack based on the book, and do an activity based on the book. I guess have a 'theme day' based on whatever book we'll read that day.

Here's an example with 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle

We would read the book:

We would then talk about different foods and how they make us feel. And as I'm brainstorming as I type, maybe do some flash cards and play a game – flash a card with a good or bad food on it and ask what they think it is. Maybe do a food pyramid, or plate, or whatever the FDA is doing now to represent healthy eating. If you have ideas, please share them with me / us!

Then, do an activity. Something I found on Pinterest was painting with different fruits and vegetables:

... maybe glue some green pom poms with a red one to look like the caterpillar. Again, if you have ideas, please share them!

And for a snack and/or lunch, make a healthy plate – maybe a sandwich with fruits and veggies, a glass of milk, cheese slices, etc. And because Addi loves grapes, she would love this treat for dessert:

Like I said, I was brainstorming as I was typing, so it'll be way fun to come up with more activities like this! I'm really looking forward to coming up with more!

If you want to follow our ventures through "snowpocalypse," I'll try to be better about posting on the blog. Also, follow my Pinterest board, Snow Day Fun / Lessons From Books, for ideas I've found and plan on trying.

Enjoy!

Flexetarian and Added Sugar Free Month – Overview

So, we did it! We made it through Flexetarian month. It was a lot easier than we thought!
Some notes though for those looking into doing it too –
• It cost about the same, probably more, to go flexetarian. Surprised? I kind of was. The most expensive parts were the Quinoa ($5.50/lb) and bella and baby bella mushrooms ($3/lb). Since I buy my protein regularly for $2-$3/lb, it didn't balance out for us.
• You don't need to get super creative. We tried a bunch of new stuff, and some of the recipes didn't work out... Note to self: If a recipe for 4 people calls for 3 packages of frozen spinach, it probably only needs 1/2 a package of frozen spinach... I made a spinach and cheese tortellini, but there was SO much more tortellini than anything else, it was just disgusting... We love fresh spinach, but eating a spoonful of frozen cooked spinach with a little cheese sauce is a completely different story! So gross!
Another recipe we weren't crazy about was a quinoa and black bean chili. There was way too much quinoa, so it ended up being a flavored quinoa with some chili stuff, and the recipe called for no where near enough spices.

We did enjoy the few recipes we came out with (find them on my Pinterest board "Pinned it. Tried it. Loved it!"), and are using them in our regular menu.
http://www.pinterest.com/amberstocksdale/pinned-it-tried-it-loved-it/

We're now cutting out about half the meat in our diet, so we'll be eating meat 3-4 times a week, rather than just about every meal of the day, 7 days a week. I've slept much better, had more energy, and we've overall felt healthier.

The no added sugar thing... Let me tell you – sugar is definitely an addictive substance!! I crashed 2 weeks in and stopped. I couldn't bare it anymore. BUT, I have noticed a change – my body can tolerate a huge amount of sugar at one time anymore! I think that's a huge change. I had Adam bring me a cake square home from the bakery section of the grocery store, and I couldn't eat even half of it in one sitting, where I used to be able to pound one with no problem. I also couldn't drink an entire can of cranberry Sierra Mist anymore! A couple sips was plenty. I'm good with that little change! I'll work toward more, but for now, that's great.
The sugar free bread was an absolute fail. I wasn't sure if it would work, but the British lady on the blog says that it totally works. Well, let's be real – it doesn't. My bread rose some, but never doubled and was always extremely dense.
For the two weeks I made it without sugar, other than feeling as if I NEEDED sugar constantly, I slept much better, I was able to concentrate easier, and had more energy.
I think I'll try it again, and make an easier goal to attain next time. I have made some changes with the food we eat though: If sugar doesn't belong in it, we're finding a sugar free option – yogurt, pasta sauce, peanut butter, granola, chicken broth/stock, vegetable broth/stock... We've gotten rid of it. I made my own chicken broth this month and it was way more delicious than the canned stuff with sugar! And be sure to check the labels on EVERYTHING!! You'd be surprised how many of these natural peanut butters have sugar in it still! Smucker's Natural peanut butter doesn't though! Peanuts and Salt. Done. And I'm loving it. I wish I could run over to Winco, like in CA, where I could grind my own fresh peanut butter and almond butter, but this will work for now.

If you have any questions about our journey, please feel free to comment/email/personal message me on Facebook, etc. I'd be happy to help you start your journey!!

Flexetarian Month – Day 1

Woohoo!! We made it through day 1! I almost caved and got an A&W float on my way home from grocery shopping, but I didn't; go sugar free Amber!

Anyways, flexetarian day one went great!

Breakfast:
Adam – Mushroom, bell pepper, egg and cheese breakfast burrito with salsa
Addi – Cinnamon and unsweetened apple sauce oatmeal
Amber – mashed banana yogurt with homemade artificial sweetener granola (recipe from yesterday)

Lunch:
Amber – Leftover Mexican Quinoa and Black Beans (recipe to come in a few days)
Addi – Tortilla, cubed cheese, fresh broccoli and carrot sticks, unsweetened applesauce

Dinner:
All – Pasta Primavera with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce. Not gonna lie, I was scared of the cauliflower sauce. I've always chosen to stay away from cauliflower. No particiular reason as to why I have, I just haven't felt the need to eat it. But, surprisingly, it was SO good!! Adam even thought it was alright and agreed to have it again. Addi loves veggies, so I wasn't surprised that she enjoyed it too.
I used fresh carrots, broccoli, green beans, and frozen corn for my veggies. And I made half the sauce recipe, and used the whole amount I cooked. The only thing I'd change is adding maybe 1/4-1/3 Cup parmesan cheese to the sauce. Other than that, LOVED it!

Here's the recipe for the Pasta Primavera, and then I used a sauce from a different blog:

Pasta Primavera:
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2014/01/recipe-pasta-primavera-creamy-cauliflower-sauce/

Creamy Cauliflower Sauce:
http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce

Enjoy!

Flexetarian Month and No Added Sugar Challange

As some of you may know, Adam and I decided on trying to be flexetarians, meaning we'll go with little to no meat, for the month of September. I have chosen to also eliminate all added sugars from my diet, and only intaking fruit-based sugar. Sugars eliminated include any sugar additives that rhyme with 'gross' (fructose, dextrose, etc.), stevia, sugar itself, honey, agave... Nothing, except for fruit as a sweetener. I was kind of scared, seeing as just about everything has sugar in it. So guess what I'll be doing with my spare time? Cooking and baking. Bread, tortillas, pasta sauce, granola, tortilla chips... just to name a few. BUT, the point is, it's possible.We'll be starting tomorrow, August 28th, and going through the next 4 weeks. This random picking of dates is only because these are the weeks within my monthly menu for September.

To kick off the month, Addi and I went shopping yesterday and came home with tons of vegetables and beans. Today we tried making a parfait with the homemade granola and original plain yogurt WITHOUT sugar! That made me nervous. I've eaten plain yogurt before and thought it was like eating sour cream by the half cup – NOT good. We tried it, and we loved it! Here's how we prepared it:

No Added Sugar Yogurt
– 1 ripe Banana
– 3/4 cup -or- 6oz container of Original Plain Yogurt -or- Plain Greek Yogurt
– A splash of 100% Apple Juice
– 3/4 cup No Added Sugar Granola

1. Mash the banana with a fork in the bowl you'll be putting your yogurt in until the banana forms a paste.
2. Scoop yogurt in the bowl with the mashed banana.
3. Pour a splash of apple juice in the yogurt mixture.
4. Stir until well mixed. Taste, and add more apple juice as needed.

It tasted like banana flavored yogurt, but actually good because it was made with real and fresh bananas, and not the artificial flavoring.


Because I didn't come up with the granola recipe, I'll share that in the link below. I found it on eHow.com. It's not sweet, but it cooked well. I didn't use any dried fruit because I don't like fruit in my granola, and I think I'd add additional nuts, like maybe some pistachios. It turned out great though! Perfect for parfaits.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5401872_make-sugarfree-granola-artificial-sweeteners.html

All in all, if it's this easy to stay away from sugar, and tastes this good, I'm going to continue doing this for sure. Keep following every day for all the recipes I try, and to see how our flexetarian and no added sugar diet is going! We're looking forward to a happier and healthier life style.
Cheers!