Banana Blueberry Muffins and Quinoa Carrot Breakfast Bars

Looking for some REAL food breakfast ideas that you can make a head of time?  Well, check out the two recipes below.  Both are very easy to make!

The Banana Blueberry Muffins are so delicious and  smell like a birthday cake in the oven when they are baking!  I really like the combination of the almond flour and coconut flour!

As for the Quinoa Carrot Breakfast Bars, I love the texture of these bars and I love that it has quinoa in them!  Quinoa is one of my favorite seeds (I thought until just recently that quinoa was a grain).  We went to visit my parents recently and I took the Quinoa Carrot Bars and my mom fell in love with them!!!

Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so start it out right with a REAL food recipe!

Enjoy!
Davis


Banana Blueberry Muffins
(My Delicious Life)
Ingredients:
-almond flour
-coconut flour
-plain greek yogurt
-eggs
-honey
-bananas
-vanilla
-sea salt
-baking soda
-fresh blueberries
-raw walnuts


Quinoa Carrot Breakfast Bars
(Once a Month Mom)
Ingredients:
-whole wheat flour
-baking powder
-sea salt
-cinnamon
-nutmeg
-allspice
-ginger
-4 medium eggs or 3 large eggs
-plain greek yogurt
-honey
-vanilla extract
-cooked quinoa
-grated carrots
-unsweetened coconut
-walnuts
-raisins

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Quinoa Carrot Breakfast Bars

Spicy Broiled Hamburgers and Creamy Whole Wheat Mac and Cheese

Not only is this meal easy, yummy and REAL food, but it's kid friendly too!  The hamburger patties really aren't spicy, but that could be because I didn't use any cayenne pepper.  The burgers are so tasty and the recipe makes a lot of patties!  Also, I am not good on the grill (however, my husband is great on the grill), so I was able to make these earlier in the day in the oven.  As for the mac and cheese.....my husband probably said three different times at dinner, "this recipe has GOT to go on the blog!"   Overall this meal was a hit!  However, I roasted some green beans in the oven, and we decided green beans are not our favorite vegetable to  roast.  Next time I will roast broccoli or brussel sprouts.

The two recipes below are a must try!!

Enjoy!
Davis


Spicy Broiled Hamburger Patties
(Food.com)
Ingredients:
-ground beef
-onion
-sea salt
-pepper
-garlic powder
-oregano
-paprika
-curry powder (I didn't use any cayenne pepper)


Creamy Whole-Wheat Mac and Cheese
(100 Days of Real Food)
Ingredients:
-whole wheat macaroni
-butter
-heavy cream (I used whole milk)
-freshly grated cheese
-sea salt
-pepper

Baked Salmon and Roasted Vegetables

We love wild-caught (not farm raised) salmon and try to eat it once a week.  It's so good for you and I love that it's full of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12.  We used to buy our salmon at a seafood market by our house, but have recently started buying it at Costco to save money.  Costco sells wild-caught frozen salmon and it's just as tasty as the fresh salmon that we used to buy at the seafood market.

So if you are looking for a super healthy, yummy, easy dinner for tonight, here you go: baked salmon and roasted vegetables with a large side of fresh fruit for dessert!   We just use seasonings from our spice cabinet to season the salmon.  Before seasoning it, I use my Misto to lightly spray some olive oil on the salmon.  Then I sprinkle some pepper, kosher salt, dill weed, onion powder, paprika and onion flakes on the salmon.  Next, I pop the thawed and seasoned fish in the oven and bake it until done.  I usually bake it at 450 for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

As for the vegetables, roasting is my favorite way to prepare vegetables.  My second favorite way is to steam vegetables, but really roasting is so easy, and absolutely delicious, so that's what I usually do.  Tonight, I am going to be roasting some green beans.  The other night when we ate salmon, I roasted some fresh broccoli.   Then other times, I prepare a large 9x13 of squash, zucchini, brussel sprouts, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, purple onion and broccoli that I roast.....SO YUM! 

To roast vegetables, simply chop up the fresh vegetables and season with olive oil, sea salt and pepper.  Then put in the oven at 350 and stir occasionally.   Watch the vegetables closely and pull them out of the oven when you feel they are done.  I can't really suggest an amount of time to cook the vegetables, because some people like them more done than other people.  Also, it depends on the vegetable(s) you are cooking as to how long they will need to roast.  After a few times of roasting vegetables, you'll determine how long you prefer them to cook.

Enjoy!
Davis

baked salmon and roasted broccoli, with kiwi and grapes for dessert

roasted broccoli...one of my favorites!

mixed roasted vegetables

Whole Wheat Muffins - choose your own filling

This is a really neat recipe because it guides you in choosing your own ingredient(s).  I did fresh pears and used 100% all natural apple juice in the batch I made.  It was so good!  I love making a batch of muffins on the weekend and then having them to eat on all during the week.  I hope you have fun with this recipe and enjoy making your own specialty muffin.

Enjoy!
Davis

Whole Wheat Muffins - choose your own filling
(100 Days of Real Food)
Ingredients:
-whole wheat flour
-sea salt
-baking powder
-cinnamon
-nutmeg
-eggs
-honey
-vanilla extract
-coconut oil
-apple juice (or orange juice)
-filling (berries, fruit, nuts, etc. - suggestions are made in the original recipe)
-muffin liners

Pear & Apple Whole Wheat Muffins

burger, rice, veggies and smoothie!

So the dinner we had the other night was SO GOOD and easy to prepare!!  We had Cilantro Turkey Burgers topped with avocado, Corn & Summer Vegetable Saute, and Creamy Lemon Rice.  I had a lot of cilantro left from the Sweet & Spicy Vegetable Wraps I made the other night, so I was glad to have the Cilantro Turkey Burger recipe so I didn't have to waste the cilantro.

Speaking of leftover ingredients, I also had fresh mint left from making the Sweet & Spicy Vegetable Wraps and were able to use them in a smoothie.  I love making different kinds of smoothies for breakfast during spring and summer and I usually don't use mint leaves in my smoothies, but I really liked the Minty Lime Smoothie I made, so I will share that recipe below too!  It was very refreshing!

Hope you are able to enjoy these recipes sometime soon!
~Davis


CILANTRO TURKEY BURGERS
(Paleo Plan)
Ingredients:
-ground turkey
-fresh cilantro
-red onion
-fresh garlic
-sea salt
-black pepper


CORN AND SUMMER VEGETABLE SAUTE
(My Recipes)
Ingredients:
olive oil (I didn't use canola oil as suggested in the recipe)
green onions
fresh garlic
fresh okra
red bell pepper
jalapeno (I omitted this ingredient)
fresh corn kernels
black beans (I used canned this time and the ingredients were: black beans, water, salt)
fresh cilantro
sea salt
black pepper


CREAMY LEMON RICE
(Food.com)
Ingredients:
-butter (I used salted butter)
-rice (I used brown rice)
-1 onion finely diced (not in original recipe, but use in step 2 of recipe-stir in along with the rice and lemon zest)
-lemon zest
-chicken broth (I used homemade chicken stock)
-sea salt
-fresh lemon juice
-heavy cream (I used whole milk instead)
-black pepper


MINTY LIME DETOX SMOOTHIE
(Natural Cures Not Medicine)
Ingredients:
-bananas
-lime
-orange
-fresh mint
-coconut water (one ingredient)
(I also added a kiwi and strawberries one morning too and it was delicious!)

Cilantro Turkey Burger, Corn & Summer Vegetable Saute, and  Creamy Lemon Rice.

snack and dessert ideas

Here are some treats that I enjoy having here at the house for us to snack on or have for dessert!  Hope you will try one (or all) of the recipes sometime soon! :)

Frozen Grapes and Kiwi
(Whole Living Magazine)
Ingredients:
-grapes
-kiwi


Date Shake Popsicles
(Whole Living Magazine)
Ingredients:
-Greek yogurt
-pitted dates
-cinnamon
-milk

Chocolate Fruit Dip
(Natural Awakenings Magazine)
Ingredients:
-avocado, mashed
-100% pure cocoa powder
-honey (instead of agave nectar*)
-pure vanilla extract
-water

So, I am pretty much in love with this dip!  I enjoy eating it on an apple, but I bet it would be good on strawberries, grapes, pineapple, etc.!  This article that I got the recipe out of is full of great eating tips and ideas.  This fruit dip is under the "avocado" section of the article and as you will see, the ingredients don't specify the amount, but just do it to taste.  It's really yummy!!

*I keep reading negative things about agave nectar.  Here's one article I read, which didn't speak highly of agave nectar: Agave Nectar: Good or Bad?

organic apple with chocolate fruit dip

Greek Pasta Salad

This Greek pasta dish was so easy and made so many servings, that we ate on it for three nights!  This dish is just as tasty as those boxed pasta dishes that  you can buy on the pasta/rice aisle at the grocery store and so much better for you!  Just for comparison sake, take for example Betty Crocker's Suddenly Pasta Caesar Salad.  It has way too many ingredients to even count, plus it contains artificial coloring!  Also, many of the ingredients listed were things I didn't even know what they were.  I just don't believe that our bodies were made to digests these foreign ingredients.  I would much rather put REAL food into my body, knowing that  my body knows how to properly break down, digest and use what I am feeding it!

Enjoy!
~Davis

Greek Pasta Salad
(slightly adjusted from the recipe in Publix's Family Style magazine)

 Ingredients:
-12 oz. dried whole wheat penne pasta
-2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
-1 medium cucumber, chopped
-1/2 cup green onions, sliced
-1/3 cup pitted black olives, sliced  (ingredients: olives, water and sea salt)
-1 cup feta cheese

Cook pasta according to the directions on the box.  When done, drain the pasta and run cold water over it.  Then transfer the drained pasta to a large bowl and add the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives and feta.

Ingredients (con't):
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup fresh  lemon juice
-1 tsp. dried basil
-1 tsp. dried oregano
-2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/4 tsp. (or more) sea salt
-1/4 tsp. pepper

Combine all of these ingredients and then pour the dressing over the pasta mixture and toss to coat.  While this dressing was good, next time, I think I might use this Homemade Greek Dressing recipe, as I thought it was more flavorful.

This is the perfect dish to make earlier in the day and stick in the refrigerate until dinner.  It sure makes the evenings less hectic when you can  prepare dinner a head of time!

Greek Pasta Salad

Sweet and Spicy Vegetable Wraps

So, I just recently discovered  spring roll skins and they are so great!  I had some homemade spring rolls at a friend's house recently and so I thought I would try making some too.  They turned out be to a huge success.  We ate these for three nights straight and I probably could have eaten these Sweet and Spicy Vegetable Wraps another couple of nights.  They  are easy to make and so yummy!

To makes these, I simply mixed together shredded/grated: cucumbers, carrots and radishes.  Then I mixed in diced green onions, sprouts (I used broccoli sprouts), chopped fresh cilantro and chopped fresh mint.  Next, I poured some of the homemade Sweet and Spicy Salad Dressing (see recipe below) onto the vegetables (I made the dressing up ahead of time).   Stir this so that all the vegetables get "seasoned" with the dressing.  Then I spooned some of the vegetable mixture onto a prepared spring roll skin.  A quick tip....let the dressing drain a little before putting the vegetables onto the wrap, or else it will make it soggy.  Also, when I say "prepared" spring roll, I mean that you have to soak each skin in warm water to soften the wrap...don't soak it too long, it else it will start to come apart.  Then top the "seasoned" vegetable mixture with a slice or two of avocado.  Roll up the wrap and you are done!  I made these earlier in the day and put them in the refrigerator until it was time to eat them.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
~Davis


Sweet & Spicy Salad Dressing
(Epicurious)
Ingredients:
-balsamic vinegar
-fresh garlic
-paprika
-yellow mustard (recipe calls for dijon mustard, but I used plain yellow mustard)
-oregano
-cayenne pepper
-sea salt
-pepper
-honey
-olive oil

Sweet and Spicy Vegetable Wraps

Homemade Greek Dressing

Does your family like salads?  We really enjoy eating salads.  Every so often, we buy lots of salad ingredients and eat salads for dinner for four or five (or more) nights.  Not only is it a welcomed break from preparing dinner, but it's a fast, healthy, and REAL food meal!  You can get so creative with salads and you can vary your salad each night.  Some of my favorite foods I like to include on my salad are:  green peas, spinach, mushrooms, boiled egg, red bell peppers (or any color for that matter), seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, etc.), walnuts or sliced almonds, red onion, broccoli  feta, tomatoes, avocado and sometimes chicken.

And then there's your dressing.  That's what can turn someone's healthy, REAL food salad into a meal that's not so good for you.  Have you read the ingredient list on your favorite salad dressing lately?  I really like a Greek dressing.  So, let's compare a store bought Greek dressing to a delicious homemade Greek dressing.  If you check the ingredient label for Ken's Steak House Greek dressing it had 25 ingredients!!!  Eight of the 25 ingredients were unrecognizable words (red flag!).  The Greek dressing that we enjoy putting on our salads is super easy to make, super yummy, and has six ingredients.....


My Grandma's Greek Dressing Recipe
(Simply Scratch)
Ingredients:
-extra virgin olive oil
-fresh lemon juice
-garlic clove
-dried oregano
-kosher salt
-black pepper


Here's another very basic salad dressing that you can add different spices to, therefore, tailoring it more to your liking:

Simple Everyday Salad Dressing
(Deliciously Organic)
Ingredients:
-extra virgin olive oil
-lemon juice
-fresh garlic
-sea salt

So, how about making your kitchen counter into a salad bar for dinner tonight?  Your body will thank you!

~Davis