Pumpkin Waffles and a Freezer Tip

Good Morning everyone! (ok, that's not how I feel until about 30 min after I officially open my eyes.) I'm a slow waker uper and as much as I love my husband helping out, helping out doesn't usually, in this case, include bringing the kids into me BEFORE I've had a good 30 min of wake up time....love you babe! But we are moms, and dads, and our jobs never end. So for our troubles, let's treat ourselves to some clean pumpkin waffles.

enter pumpkin waffles

I initially got the recipe from HERE but since it has 2 cups of white flour, I had to revise. If you don't want them clean, feel free to use the above recipe....I'm sure with the white flour its not a miss. If you want to clean it up, exchange the two cups of white flour her recipe calls for and change it to 2 cups of Whole Wheat flour...thats what I did.

Here is what I learned:

because the wheat flour is more dense, you tend to taste it more than you would white flour. So the next time I make this, I will put in 1 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

So, follow the recipe above, and change out the flour and add a bit more pumpkin pie spice.

We really enjoyed this recipe today and ate it with a small amount of butter and pure maple syrup. They syrup sweetened it up and gave it the edge it needed!

Now, for the freezer tip:

I'm a big freezer fan. I like to over-make the breakfasts I can so that when I AM in a daze, breakfast can be healthy and easy. Whenever I make waffles or pancakes, I make them as directed then place them on a plate so they can cool. Once they are cooled, I use wax paper and put the wax paper in between layers of waffles/pancakes. Then I put them in a ziploc baggie and get as much air out as possible. I put them in the freezer in a section I have dubbed breakfast (this section also has all my smoothie makings (bananas, spinach, fruit etc)). When I have mornings that I cannot make breakfast from scratch, I usually have something healthy in the freezer that just needs to be popped in the toaster and we are eating in less than 5 min. Perfect if you are Brian Reagan and need to be up and eating and out the door in less than 3 seconds.......and perfect if you don't want pop tarts.

Brian Reagan pop tarts

Enjoy the comedy, I need it this morning!!

Annisa

Muffin top....and muffin bottom

Do you ever have one of those lazy night watching Person of Interest or Elementary (my two drugs of choice currently) and see how "in shape" everyone seems to be? That was me Cira last night.  I vowed that I would get up this morning at 6:45 and work out for a half hour, get spiritually enlightened, and shower, all before thing one and thing two awoke. It all was going as planned until I was drowsily headed off to no mans land when my 2.5 year old woke up with "shadow syndrome"...you know, mommy! I'm scared of shadows. Ok, so I just made that name up but in my book it exists, and exists, and exists...all till 1 am. At that point I knew either I stick to my plan, or I'm nice to my kids today. I chose to be nice. ;)

I lieu of exercise, I knew I had to eat a really healthy but delicious breakfast....enter bran muffins.

Now before you go closing your browser, give me a chance! When I had my first baby, a friend of mine, Allison, brought me over these warm and delicious bran muffins. I was weary, but my man tried them first and before finishing one, said, hey, you need to get this recipe. They were really good and we ate them all. Jump forward nearly 3 years and a drastic change of lifestyle for my family. I had allison re-forward me the recipe and from there I made several revisions until today....I have found the hopefully final version of bran muffins.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce Annisa's Clean Eating Bran Muffins:

I'm really proud of this recipe, and I hope that you enjoy. I even took it to two neighbors today and they both said they loved them. Thanks Whitney and Audrey for being my guinea pigs!!


Annisa's Clean Eating Bran Muffins
Mix and let sit for 3-5 min:
1 1/2 cup All Bran Cereal (try to find a healthy one with no added anything....lol)
1 3/4 cup Skim milk
1 Egg
1/2 cup Coconut oil (melted, but not boiling)
1/3 C honey (if you want these to be more sweet, add more honey, but with that comes more calories and a world of "I should stop eating now...really, and now....") I find that 1/3 c is just right

Add to the cereal mixture:
3/4 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 C Coconut Flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix the above and put into baking wrappers. This will make about 14-15 good size muffins. I made 12 muffins, and 9 tiny tiny muffins. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 min. Just enough so a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy. I prefer no butter, but feel free to use the raspberry butter recipe on these or regular butter. Enjoy!!!

Butter, anyone?

My appologies for being...well, MIA for several months. I've had quite a summer, you know, moving, putting in a yard, raising kids, organizing my new homw, and sleeping a little somewhere in between all that. It's starting to get a bit cold here, and those of you who don't know me, will soon begin to understand that all I do in the winter, besides hanging out with thing one and thing two is BAKE, and COOK and GET CREATIVE!! So I told my husband a couple nights ago, I wanted to get back to blogging all my great finds. Which leads me to TODAY. Yikes, no more caps, I PROMISE.

This recipe is used for special occasions....big sigh....because its not clean...at all.
Although butter can sometimes be debated as clean or not, we use it here in our house and I feel its ok. The one debatable item here in this recipe is raspberry preserve. Ok, not debatable, its totally unclean, I'm talking high fructose corn syrup not clean. Thats why we don't make it very often, but we enjoy it when I do decide its ok. I found the recipe on Pinterest and you can go to that original post here.

There are several other recipes that call for additional sugar (I know, I was trying not to gag, because this is really sweet as it is. I would never want to add more sugar). In the future, I'm going to get the guts to try the no sugar raspberry preseve, and I'll post my finds on that as well.

I have not been able to duplicate my butter to look like the picture in the post provided, but trust me, when you taste this, it won't matter what it looks like. I'm still working on my photog or phratography skills, as my husband and I always joke. So todays wasn't stellar, but hey, its my first day back, its going to be rough!

This recipe is a huge hit wherever we go, or whomever we invite over, or whatever we put it on. I love to put it on our bran muffins...recipe forthcoming.

We are all smiles here and are looking forward to a great day!

As Ellen would say, "be nice to each other", and I wish the same. Cheers!

Annisa

Avocado and Egg Sandwich...with sprouts!

I felt like this was a good time to post this recipe I've had because it is the day after Easter...and the dilemma starts...what do I do with all these hard boiled eggs?? You can only have so many devilled eggs.

I had a few avocados the other day that I wanted to use up...ok, that NEEDED to be used up. So I went to my clean eating board on Pinterest and found a recipe I'd been wanting to try. I made a couple small changes, and it was delicious! Because my kids don't eat actual "sandwiches" yet, I just gave them some of the mixture and put it a bowl with a spoon. They ate it with crackers. I added sprouts to mine, and I'm sure if you wanted you could add some kind of cheese that you consider clean.

One thing about this recipe. You really need to eat it in one meal. Because avocado has a tendency to turn brown, its not very appealing a few hours later....bleh! Let me know if you like this, its a great alternative to adding mayonnaise to your egg salads, and adds some goodness!

Original recipe found HERE

Caesar Dressing....cause I'm in a salad mood

Well good morning everyone! I say good morning because my kids slept till almost 9, and I had a new friend stop by and surprised me with a visit (thanks Whitney!), so I'm JUST getting showered and now I realized its time for lunch! So I'm still celebrating my morning. haha

I had a friend from Utah ask me for a Caesar dressing recipe that I use because it doesn't have anchovies...and I have failed miserably to get it to her...until NOW. Its whats for lunch, so why wait?? Tipping my hat to you Susan!

There are a couple reasons why I love this dressing. First, because I'm not putting anchovies in ANYTHING I eat. Second, it really is that good. It isn't extremely thick like some mayo based dressings, but the good part is, there isn't a STITCH of mayo in this. This is clean, about 150 calories for 2Tbs, and just darn good. I hope you enjoy!

Caesar Dressing

1 C Olive Oil
1/4 C Water
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice (fresh is best, but I've used lemon juice from those yellow "lemon" looking containers...you know what I'm talking about...)
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lg egg yolk
2 cloves garlic
1/4 C grated Parmesan Cheese (fresh is best, and then you can put some on top of the salad, but kraft can be used as well)

Add all ingredients to blender and blend well. Its best after it has been refrigerated for a couple hours. It thickens up  more that way.

I start with a bowl of thinly sliced romaine lettuce. I usually use mixed greens for almost any salad I use, but I find romaine sticks to tradition with this dressing. I then add grated parm cheese and top with croutons. If I'm making this for dinner, I do grill up some chicken and slice it for a more filling dish for Peter, but during lunch its me and this dressing SANS chicken.

I hope you enjoy this and let me know how well you like it.

Props to BLENDTEC for this recipe. YUM!

I'm back!!!! oh and a fruit smoothie....

Well, It has been an eventful couple of months. We moved, we have renters in our old home, we've already had to speak in church, and our new home is getting used to us being in it...I think.

I fell off the wagon last week (clean eating speaking) and I'm just unhappy when I do! I feel horrible, I'm sleepy, I'm grumpy, and I seem to not fit in my clothes very well (bloating I'm sure). So today we start again!!(cheers in the background)

My husband has been enjoying this hiatus and when I mentioned to him last night that the oreos and pringles he was stuffing in his mouth was going to be his last meal, he says, "oh, but we haven't eaten like this forever!" I have to admit I was proud of myself. Although it wasn't that hard to find recipes that peter would love, It has been hard keeping crap out of the house.

Today is a new day, and you can do ANYTHING with new days. I began my clean eating this morning with a Tropical Smoothie, and I'll share it with you below. Many cheers for all of you and sticking to clean eating, let me know if you've seen a difference!!

Tropical Breeze
(thanks Blendtec)

1 C. Pineapple Juice
1/4 c coconut milk
2 bananas (I used 2 frozen)
2 Tbsp shredded coconut (unsweetened)
2 C ice cubes

blend and enjoy!

Break it down, SMOOTHIE TIME

Sing the title to MC hammers Hammer time....you know, just for effect.

So last night I couldn't really get my son to eat much. Which always frustrates me because he usually is a HOOVER. I needed him to get some nutrients... and my go to for that kind of thing is always a green smoothie. I had some aging strawberries that needed used up, and because I buy my spinach in a costco size bag and freeze it into two cup increments, I always have spinach. I actually do the same for bananas. I buy them in bulk and break up one banana and freeze it in a baggie. makes for easy smoothie makings. I just did a simple search on strawberry green smoothies and several posts down I found this little gem: Strawberry Blueberry Green Smoothie

Since my kids are lovers of blueberries, frozen or fresh, this was a winner.

ENJOY!!

Niss

my daughter refusing to eat the rest of her chicken till I tempted her w a smoothie

WHOMP, there it is 

Stop, hammer time

wow, Ive got to get a life.......

Clean Eating Breakfast Burrito

I'm all about simple. Don't get me wrong, I love a great meal that is very complex...but lets face it, I'm a busy mom and some days I'm lucky to get breakfast or lunch.  Today was one of those mornings. It turned 11:30 and I had forgotten that I'd not eaten breakfast! a HUGE no-no in clean eating. So I put my son down for his nap and ran-sacked the fridge. Eggs....check, whole wheat tortillas....check, avocado....check, clean eating salsa leftover from yesterday....check.


Breakfast Burrito sans picture...sorry!!! it was so good I forgot to take one!!!!

3 organic eggs
mozz cheese if you are eating dairy
2 whole wheat tortillas
1/2 an avocado
Clean eating salsa (recipe found HERE)

Make scrambled eggs according to your liking. Add cheese either in the eggs or just in the burrito with the other ingredients. warm up two whole wheat tortillas. Put eggs, cheese, avocado and salsa in the two tortillas. Wrap and eat.

I could eat this for Breakfast, snack, or lunch. For dinner I have a more in depth/complex recipe my husband loves. you could always add red or yellow bell peppers for a nice crunch to this as well. I followed this down with a green smoothie.

Enjoy!!!

Superbowl clean foods

CHIPS AND SALSA

I'm really excited for the Superbowl tomorrow. I mean, I hate professional football, but I'm excited to see two brothers coach against each other, and I really like the 49ers. So I'll be glued to the tv one one condition: good clean food to inhale.

Today I'd like to share a recipe that I borrowed from Green Shakes and Giggles. It was very easy to make, and got a standing ovation from my husband, my children, and my brother in law. 

Jacobs Garden Salsa

Recipe HERE

BUT WAIT!!!!!

Before you go making this salsa and not reading the rest of my blog....cause I do it too...I scroll down to the recipe and not read the boring mumbo jumbo of a lot of blogs. (you do it too, don't lie to yourselves....haha) I did make two changes to the recipe. 

1: I added GROUND CUMIN SEED to this recipe. I just love cumin, and to me, salsa isn't salsa without cumin. 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp.

2: I added a touch more jalapeno. Not a whole lot, but the amount in the recipe didn't cut it for us...EVEN after it sat overnight. 

After these two minor changes, the salsa was CONSUMED. I was actually asked to bring this to family dinner tomorrow night. 

NOW.....

What would salsa be without chips?? Here is an easy recipe to make your own chips, and feel like a freakin rockstar! (I can't guarantee people will want you to sign their boobs or anything...but rockstar ENOUGH)

Take a package (or two) of corn tortillas. You can find them pretty much anywhere, but make sure you READ YOUR INGREDIENTS!!!! Find a good compromise, and don't buy them with lots of additives. My rule is LESS than 8 ingredients, and if you can't pronounce the ingredient, DONT FOR THE LOVE BUY IT!  (remember, baby steps....I still have to purchase things that aren't entirely clean...ITS OK! you're not a failure, you're already getting there just by having a DESIRE) 

But I digress....

Package of corn tortillas

cut into wedges

lay out on baking sheet 

Spray olive oil on them ( I had to purchase an oil pump, 20$ at the local spoons and spice and I'm having a hard time thinking of how I would have done the chips without them)

Sea salt-sprinkle over chips

350 degrees for about 10 min...just check them. if they are still soft, let them go a tad more. 

Enjoy your Superbowl!!!!

Not yo Mamas Quinoa

I have a GO TO recipe that pretty much is one of the only Quinoa we eat around here. They kids love it, the husband loves it, and I could eat a whole bowl of this myself. I'm always getting the whole, 'hey can I have that recipe' comment, and I'm HAPPY to be able to give it to you today!

For those of you that don't know much or have never tried Quinoa, is some information on it: HERE

But in a nutshell, quinoa is high in Calcium, Iron, protein and fiber. It doesn't replace legumes in terms of fiber, but every little bit helps!!

Mexiquinoa:

1 Cup Quinoa
2 cups Chicken/vegetable/water (two cups of any of that will be good, but I prefer chicken stock in mine)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup corn kernels (they have to be cooked, but do not have to be warm)
1 cup black beans (I used canned, again, cooked, but do not have to be warm)
3 green onions
1 small bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped (you can add more if you like cilantro)
2 Tbsp olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lime (again, more if you like lime)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
avocado diced (optional)

combine the quinoa and broth (or water) and salt in a saucepan, and bring to a full boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover with a lid, and cook until all of the broth or water is absorbed, about 15-20 min (when done, the grains will look almost clear.)

While quinoa is cooking, place corn, black beans, green onions, cilantro, olive oil, lime zest and juice and cumin in a bowl. Once Quinoa is done, add to bowl, stir and serve adding avocados on top if desired.
*recipe adapted from:thedailymeal.com

I LOVE this salad warm, my husband likes it cool. go figure.

When I eat Quinoa:
I like it for DINNER. I pair it with a roasted veggie of some sort in the winter. In the summer, I usually eat it with some kind of fruit salad.

LUNCH: leftovers, YES!

SNACK: more leftovers, double YES!

I hope you enjoy this as much as our family does. Can I say STAPLE anyone??

Also, here's a freebie for you: 

If you use canned beans and corn, you will have about 1.5 cups leftover. For my kids, I add clean salsa to it, and they eat it like an entree...double score for me...no waste, healthy kids. 

hummm...us??

I'm a lover of wraps. . . I just am. I love the idea of putting anything I want into a wrap and having every bite taste just how I want it to!! However, eating clean does put a restriction challange into the dressings. But perhaps you can have your wrap and eat it too? Since the demise of putting ranch dressing on just about everything I put into my mouth, I've found a new love and use for HUMMUS. Hummus is great, you can make it bland, spicy, colorful, or well, bland!  I also love hummus for my family and especially kids because it is inexpensive to make, its high in fiber, and has a lot of protein. My kids love dipping things in it, and I don't even care half the time if they just suck the hummus off, because its the hummus I want them to have! Here is my personal favorite hummus recipe.


HUMMUS
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
(I've used the concentrate in a pinch)
2 Tbsp Tahini (recipe to follow)
1 clove of garlic (more if you like the flavor of garlic)
1/2 tsp salt
15 oz can chickpeas, drained and 1/4 c liquid reserved

Add ingredients, incuding the 1/4 c reserved liquid to jar in order listed and blend.
This wont be completely smooth, so blend as you will....you won't get it totally creamy.
This makes about 2 cups

TAHINI
1/4 C Olive Oil
3 C hulled and toasted sesame seeds

Add oil and seeds to jar and blend. You may have to stop and push down the sides of the blender and re-blend.
TO TOAST:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. spread sesame seeds on  pan. Toast seeds for 10-12 min. Stir seeds half way through (so at 5-6 min).

This makes about 2 cups and I keep it in the fridge for 8 weeks. You'll find that you will use the Tahini up in other clean recipes as well...don't fret. I can see the look on your face right now.....

*Recipes were taken from BLENDTEC Fresh Blends cookbook.

HOW I USE HUMMUS:

LUNCH:
I use it in wraps for the dressing. I spread it on the tortilla and then add red or yellow bell peppers, mozz cheese if I wish, spinach, tomatoes, salt and pepper.

My kids will eat the wraps too, but I put deli meat in theirs to keep them going (they love meat)

MID MORNING OR MID AFTERNOON SNACK
I also use it for just dipping vegetables. Its a great snack...you know, since we clean eaters are supposed to eat 6 times a day!

Don't love me for my skills to with lighting....

I think I wrapped this before I had more than spinach in it...not sure why.....yikes.

Eat and be well!!

XOXO

Inagural Post and can I get a shout for smoothies??

Welcome to healthyhearthappysoul!! I've been thinking about doing a blog like this for a little while now, but we all know how it goes....if not, let me help you out:

7:30 wake up to crying baby
7:40 feed crying baby
7:50 attempt in vain to put baby back down to sleep so you can squeeze 20 more min of sleep
8:00 pick baby back up due to nonstop screaming
8:15 2nd baby awakes
8:30 sit down to breakfast
8:45 kids still are waiting on breakfast while watching you run around your kitchen frantically looking for something "healthy to eat"
9:00 still waiting on breakfast all the while asking yourself, can kids eat this for breakfast??

Sound familiar? perhaps you are a little more on top of things than I? Well, if this sounds like something  you would do, or have ever done, this blog is for you!

I've recently begun the conversion to Clean Eating. You can find information on clean eating here. I stumbled upon this way of eating after trying for 4 years to have children and finally being told by an OBGYN that children just weren't in the cards for us. I refused to believe this! we exercised, ate "healthy" (I used to use this term in place of not being overweight....I wasnt very smart) and there was no family history of infertility. A neighbor gave me a book called pH Balance (purchase herethat she loved...thus my eyes were opened to a whole new world! After jumping on board with this way of eating, we were pregnant within 2 months. NOW, not everyone's experience will be the same. After further research, it was my hormones that were stopping me from conceivng. Once I cleaned the crap  processed foods out of my body, my hormones were able to get back in line and boom! two babies in a year!

As I don't like the idea (yet at least) of cutting out dairy and wheat and fruit from my diet, I love the idea of eating a more "from the ground" type of diet and my love of clean eating was born. So I guess you could say 3 BABIES in one year...or not. haha

I want everyone who comes across this blog to feel comfortable. Some blogs are so hard core and gungho, that I feel like I'll never be that good, or I'm not good enough to comment, or if I do comment, I think I'll look like a doof. NEVER ON THIS BLOG WILL YOU FEEL THAT WAY! I'm just starting my conversion so guess what, there are still processed foods in my pantry!!! WHAT, WHATS THAT YOU SAY?? yes, I have a hard time wasting food, so I've thrown out anything with high fructose corn syrup, and many things like that, but I will use what I have and continue to replace all my pantry items as I go. I wish I had a million dollars to just go out and buy EVERYTHING I need, but you know what? Im learning a LOT, like A LOT A LOT about the foods in my pantry as I read labels and throw away. Its good motivation on a daily basis. So hang in there, you don't need a pantry full of nuts and seeds and wheat to be good at this. I PROMISE. Step by step, day by day.....we'll get there!

Here are a couple of Green smoothies to kick things off for you.

How I use green smoothies in my life:
Breakfast
For me AND the kids
They are fast and easy to mix up and PACKED with nutrients. You can also pre-package your green smoothies and freeze them (only suggested if you own a Blendtec or vitamix that can handle lots of frozen foods) or just buy large quantities of Spinach and bananas and freeze those two things.
Mid morning or Mid afternoon snack
After dinner as a treat (make a sweeter version if you are used to dessert every night. There are lots of fruit smoothies you can make or some with greek yogurt that are yum.

Peach green Smoothie HERE
Non green peach Smoothie HERE

Also, I've since stopped using yoplait yogurt and I'm all greek now...if you need vanilla flavoring in yogurt, just use greek yogurt, and a small amount of vanilla extract. about 1tsp to 1 cup yogurt.

ENJOY!