Snack Time! Blueberry and Granola in Almond Milk

I don't know who introduced me to "blueberries in milk with sugar" when I was a kid, but I've loved it ever since. I have switched out the sugar and the milk for granola and almond milk. This is one of my all-time favorite snacks. It's so refreshing and satisfying.

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1/4 cup granola (I like Bare Naked)

Almond Milk - as much as you like

• Add all to a cereal bowl and eat with a spoon. Yum!

Kiwi Smoothie

John did a great job on the 5k this morning!!  I was there cheering him on, and that was fun. This is a zinger of a smoothie. It will wake you up! Make sure your Kiwis are very ripe, otherwise this may be too tart for you. Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a great day spent with friends and family. We will be traveling down to North Branford to my brother in law's. The kids are excited to spend the day with their cousins.

4 ripe kiwis, peeled and cut in half
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup ice
1 Tbsp Agave nectar or honey

put it all together and blend in blender!  Makes 2 smoothies

Banana-Oat Smoothie for Breakfast!

Answering a couple of questions I've received. Yes, I do love drinking my breakfasts! No, I am not on a diet, I'm just making healthier choices. In fact, since committing to eating 3 healthy meals per day a few days ago, I feel much more satisfied throughout the day and don't do any food picking at all during the day in between meals like I used to. After dinner is another story. I still have small cravings for sweets and carbs at night. I'll eat what I want when I get that craving because I figure that I've eaten all the veggies and fruits I need throughout the day and I should be able to eat what my body craves after filling it with the good stuff first!  So last night I had satisfied my chocolate craving and had a few chocolate cookies. 

Now, onto the Banana-Oat Smoothie! I've loved this smoothie for a couple of years now. I have swapped out the milk and yogurt it originally called for, with, of course, my almond milk that I discussed yesterday. This is a sweet, very satisfying breakfast. You need a decent blender to get the oats to be incorporated. I'm thinking of getting a Vitamix - does anyone have one? Do you like it??

1 ripe banana
1/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 cup ice
1 cup unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk
1 tsp agave nectar or honey

• put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. You'll still see little bits of oat, but I like that - it gives a little texture to the smoothie. Enjoy!

The No Dairy Blueberry-Banana Smoothie

I discovered Almond milk a couple of years ago when I was trying to follow one of those crazy vegan detox diets. The only thing that stuck with me was the almond milk. Now, I use unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk in place of the milk that goes into my cereals, and in place of the milk and yogurt that often goes into smoothies.  Did you know that even fat free skim milk has more than double the calories and sugar of unsweetened vanilla almond milk? Yet almond milk has 50% more calcium and is richer and more satisfying than fat free skim.

This smoothie is sweet, the way I prefer my breakfast smoothies. If you prefer less sweetness, use only a 1/2 tablespoon of the nectar (or honey)

1 ripe banana
1 cup of frozen blueberries
1 cup of Unsweetened Vanilla flavored Almond Milk (I use the Almond Breeze brand found in the refriderated milk section in the grocery store.)
1 tablespoon Agave nectar (or honey will do)

• put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Poached Cod with Mushrooms & Tomatoes over Spinach

This recipe was created as I picked through the fridge tonight. The cod came out so tender - it was really good.  The rest of the family did without the spinach and had a side of iceberg based salad instead. The kids got fries too. Oh well, baby steps with them, but it's a start. 


2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cod filets
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
10 oz fresh Spinach

• heat oil in a large skillet
• Add onion and garlic and heat over medium until soft, about 5 minutes.
• Add mushrooms and heat for 5 minutes
• Add tomatoes and chicken broth and heat to boiling
• Reduce heat to simmering and add cod, season with salt and pepper
• Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until cod is opaque and ready to serve.

To serve, line plate with Spinach. Dress spinach with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place cod over spinach. Then spoon vegetable mixture over cod.

Cauliflour Soup with Lemon and Parsley

This is a great warm comfort food for a cold day, but is light and very low on the calories.  Pureed vegetable soups are so easy to make. You can follow this recipe and switch out the vegetable to broccoli, carrot, beets, butternut squash, or whatever you like. I'll be making the butternut squash next after I finish eating this soup over the next couple of days.

This recipe serves 4 to 6

2 1/2 lbs of cauliflour cored and cut into florets
2 Tbsps of oilive oil
1 onion coarsley chopped
coarse salt and ground black pepper
1 can chicken stock, low sodium
4 to 5 cups of water
juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1 tablespoon chopped parsley per serving

• Heat oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven or pot.
• Add Onion and cook until softened, about 5 min.
• Add broth, vegetable, and enough water to just about cover the vegetables.
• Bring to boil; then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes
• if you have a hand blender, start blending and pureeing the soup right in the pot. If you don't have a hand blender, transfer the soup in batches to a food processor for pureeing.
• Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper as needed. I also put a coupl of slices of lemon in my soup because I like a lot of lemon.

Orange-Raisin Bulgar Wheat Cereal with Ginger and Cinnamon

I love this hot cereal for it's freshness which is infused with oranges and orange zest. The raisins burst in your mouth for a nice surprise as you are eating.

This recipe serves 4

1 cup dry Bulgar wheat
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon orange zest, from one medium sized orange
1 orange, peeled and separated
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Cinnamon for serving

• Combine Bulgar wheat, water, raisins, and salt in saucepan and bring to a boil.
• lower heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes (or until all liquid has evaporated)
• remove from heat and keep covered
• put orange slices in a small fry pan with 2 tbsps of water, ginger, and cinnamon. Heat over low heat until heated through.
• Remove oranges to cutting board and chop them up.
• Add oranges to bulgar wheat and combine.
• spoon mixture into 4 serving bowls and sprinkle with Cinnamon

So Far So Good!

So far so good on day 2 of the "21 days of eating Healthy" challenge! I do post as I cook each of the three meals a day, unless I am eating leftovers from the day before. I had the soup I made yesterday for lunch today after my 5k, which tasted great (again) I decided to add a little nutmeg to it and it gave it a nice nuttiness (not sure if that is a word)  Tonight's dinner was spent with family in Clinton.  After we were done helping Maureen and Andrew move into their new home, they treated us to a great dinner at Chips Restaurant.  I had the Gardenburger on toasted wheat bread with sweet potatoe fries (I know, the fries are pushing it a little, but at least they were sweet potatoes - and they were GREAT!) The gardenburger was fabulous as well.  Thanks Maureen and Andrew!

Sautéed Mushroom and Roasted Pepper over Toast

Well I had planned to reheat the oatmeal I made for breakfast yesterday for this morning's breakfast, but John ate it. I had to scrounge around the fridge and I came up with this concoction. It was yum!


Handful of sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced jarred roasted red pepper
1 Tbsp of Hummus (I used a southwestern flavored hummus I purchased at the store)
1 toasted sliced of whole wheat bread
1 Tbsp olive oil

• Heat olive oil over medium heat in small pan
• Add mushrooms and peppers and heat until mushrooms release their juices, about 5 minutes
• Remove from heat and let sit
• Toast the wheat bread
• spread hummus on the toast, and spill mushrooms and peppers over the top.

Spiced Chickpea and Tomato Soup with Roasted Peppers

Boy did this hit the spot on this raw, cold day. It's based on an old Martha Stewart recipe that I altered a bit.  This recipe serves 4

3 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp ground coriander (tip - if you don't have ground, just grind the seeds in your coffee grinder)
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1/8 tsp caraway seeds
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin olive oil
1 can chickpeas rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups crushed canned tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup drained, jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed
3 1/2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
Spoonful of Greek yogurt per serving
1 Tbsp chopped parsely for each serving

• Using back of a spoon, crush garlic, salt, coriander, and caraway to form a paste.
• Heat oil in a large sauce pan (I use dutch oven) over hight heat. Add garlic mixture and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. You will LOVE the aroma!
• Stir in Chickpeas, tomatoes, red peppers, and stock. 
• Simmer, stirring often, for about 15 minutes
• If you have a hand blender (a must have if you make a lot of soups I say) then start blending the soup right in the pot until you get a nice smooth and creamy texture.  If you don't have a hand blender, then puree soup in batches in a food processer. Do small batches so you don't have accidents. return pureed soup to saucepan and reheat as necessary.
• Divide among serving bowls. Add chopped parsley and  greek yogurt to each bowl.

Sherbrooke Inspired; Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal with Molasses

I don't think that I've had Molasses since I was a young girl sitting at my Grandma Noonan's lunch table in Sherbrooke, Quebec. When I tasted it before putting into my recipe, it brought back those early childhood holiday lunches. She used to serve it with bread and we dipped the bread into a small bowl of molasses. Mom, if you are reading this, help me out - am I remembering correctly?

This little bowl of Oatmeal hit the spot this morning. All natural ingredients.

2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats (not instant oatmeal)
1 tsp Molasses
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
small handful of raisins

• Boil the water and salt
• Add the oats and cook on med for 10-20 minutes (I like the texture of my oats at about 12 minutes, I like them a little chewy, not mushy)
• Remove from heat and add the Molasses, Cinnamon, and raisins, stir to combine
• Cover and let sit for a few minutes

Side note, my oatmeal came out perfect this morning, but if yours comes out too thick and you need to add liquid to thin it out a bit, I would use Almond Milk because I am trying to limit my use of dairy products. Dairy products tend to make me bloated. I use Almond milk in place of milk in all of my cereals, and in a number of other recipes as well.

This roller coaster ride is KILLING me!!

Okay, this is it. I need to figure out a way to stop this sugar/no sugar roller coaster. I'll go a few weeks eating really healthy and then BOOM! I'll cave in and stuff myself with gigantuous amounts of sugar - mostly in the form of cookies and chocolate. I just finished said binge over the last two days. I'm going to figure this out! All advice is welcome!

In the meantime, I'm back on the health kick (at least for the next few weeks) and I welcome you along for the ride (if you so dare). So, over the next 21 days (minus Thanksgiving day) I'll blog about my food concoctions that will be heavily focused toward recipes that are very low on processed foods and dairy, and very high on veggies, fruits, and whole grains. When I eat this way, I feel great!