Pork Taquitos

These are a favorite at our house. It's not one of our healthy meals so we don't have them a lot but we sure enjoy them when we do.

Ingredients 
1 pack pork stew meat
1/2 poblano chili diced
1/2 serrano chili diced
3 tbs diced yellow onion
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp cumin
2 tbs water
taco seasoning
couple of squirts lime juice
couple of hot sauce
6- 8 corn tortillas
canola oil

Toppings (optional)
fat free sour cream
hot sauces
guacamole
salsa
lime juice
cilantro
cheese
lettuce

toss the pork into a hot pan, sprayed with non stick spray. Toss in both types of chilis. sprinkle with garlic salt, cumin, and lime juice. Let pork cook thoroughly flipping periodically to cook evenly.

In a pot add a dollop of butter and saute onions till crispy.

When pork is cooked thoroughly take contents of that pan out to shred. Once shredded toss pork and chilis into the pot with the onions. Add water, taco seasoning and hot sauce. Mix together and let simmer for a minute. You don't want the mixture to be liquid we want a well seasoned meat that won't drench a tortilla.

Warm the tortillas up until they are pliable but won't tear easily. Warm up a pan with oil. Once the meat is seasoned then you take the tortillas and place the meat on them. Roll the meat in the tortillas and place in the hot oil. Let the tortillas brown on one side and flip them. Once they are almost completely browned, remove from pan  and place on a oven safe dish lined with paper towels. Sprinkle cheese over taquitos and place in a warm oven  (200 degrees F) to melt and stay warm while the other taquitos are cooking.

Serve taquitos over a bed of lettuce with fat free sour cream, lime juice, and hot sauce.

Balsamic tilapia and pasta

We have been out of town so our dinner tonight had to be something from the freezer or pantry. It also want we had to get creative. My favorite part about cooking dinner. Seriously, only on rare occasions do I follow a recipe word for word. Tonight my man wanted fish and pasta. However we were out of our normal pasta sauces. So instead I decided to make a balsamic vinegarette to replace our marinara and Alfredo.
I apologize for my guesstimates measures of cooking. One day I will learn to measure things before I write a recipe. (Probably not very soon,but I have pictures. Baby steps.)

I started by marinating the tilapia in 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar. I sprinkled garlic, Italian seasoning, oregano, garlic salt,and black pepper to lightly coat the top of the fish.

Meanwhile  I began boiling some whole wheat pasta. You can even see the steam in the picture above.

Here are all my ingredients. 

As the pasta was boiling, I poured a bit of  grape seed oil in a pan to warm up. I placed the fish in the pan with the remaining vinegar and seasonings.  I added a layer of Parmesan cheese on top of the fish and let it cook. 

Once the fish turn white on the bottom flip it over. Let that cook through and remove from heat.

Meanwhile grab a Tupperware and mix 2 tbs balsamic vinegar and a 4 tbs water. Sprinkle in 1/8 tsp garlic, a dash of salt, a dash of pepper, and desired amount of Parmesan. Add 3 tablespoons of oil. Top Tupperware with lid and shake vigorously. Taste dressing. 

At this point your pasta should be done, drain the pasta and leave in strainer. Add spinach into the hot pot with a dash of balsamic vinegar. Add pasta to spinach and stir together. You can add in olives, cut cherry tomatoes, or Parmesan cheese.

On a plate add pasta, top with fish and drizzle dressing.

Enjoy!

I like brussel sprouts?

This came as a complete surprise but I enjoy brussel sprouts. It all started when my husband and I started getting all our fruits and veggies from bountiful baskets. If you haven't heard of it, let me tell you how wonderful I think it is.  Go to bountifulbaskets.org to learn more or find one in your area.
First of all it's inexpensive. We get a small laundry basket filled with fruits and veggies for 15  dollars every two weeks. The two pomegranates alone cost 5 dollars at our local grocery store and that was only a small portion of our basket.
Second the fruits and veggies are usually locally grown. That's why they are cheaper.
Third: I get all the fruits and veggies I want! Even some i don't want, anyone want some yellow squash? Some times we get unusual things as well like acorn squash, asian pears, and brussel sprouts. The first time we looked through our basket and found those little green Brussel sprouts, we stared at them like they were the plague. We admitted we had never actually eaten brussel sprouts so we might as well try them. Dave found a article about how people who don't like brussel sprouts are cooking them wrong. They should be roasted. So we took their idea and made it our own. Here's the surprisingly tasty result.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Halve the brussel sprouts, toss with oil, sprinkle with salt, and according to our own idea add parmesean cheese.
We placed the cut side on a baking sheet and baked them in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes. (We ended up cooking them more like 16 minutes. Probably do to the high altitude.)

They were delcious. The outside leaves were flaky and crispy. It had an enjoyable nutty flavor and I'm making more tomorrow. Dave isn't a super fan but they were tastier than he expected. Also they are a very healthy food check out the following chart I found.

Nutrients in

Brussels Sprouts

1.00 cup raw (88.00 grams)

Nutrient%Daily Value

 vitamin K194.7%

 vitamin C124.6%

 manganese15%

 folate13.4%

 fiber13.3%

 vitamin A13.2%

 potassium9.7%

 vitamin B69.5%

 tryptophan9.3%

 vitamin B18%

 iron6.8%

 phosphorus6%

 protein5.9%

 molybdenum5.8%

 magnesium5%

 vitamin B24.7%

 choline3.9%

 vitamin E3.8%

 omega-3 fats3.7%

 calcium3.6%

 vitamin B33.3%

Calories (37)2%

Dark chocolate raspberry pie

 Sorry there are no pictures but this pie doesn't last very long once I make it. 

So, it's been a while since I've even thought about this blog. So here's a treat for anyone who even decides to read this. This is probably my greatest dessert creation to date. It's a healthier alternative to many pies without the crazy ingredients (1/3 cup of sugar for the whole pie). Bonus!

Ingredients
1 Oreo crust ( you can make your own, but I didn't have that kinda time on a weekday)

Chocolate filling
1 cup or 2% Greek yogurt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tbs cornstarch
1 tsps vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Dash of cinnamon
Handful of dark chocolate chips
1 tsp-tbs of butter

Raspberry sauce
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup of mashed raspberries ( fresh or frozen)
1 tsp cornstarch



Mash raspberries and lemon juice  in a bowl until a relatively smooth consistency.  Place purée in a small pot on medium heat, mix with cornstarch and sugar until purée thickens. Refrigerate sauce.

Use a chocolate graham cracker or Oreo crust. Brush with beaten egg white and crisp in oven at 375 for 5 minutes.

In a bowl combine cheesecake filling ingredients except eggs. Add eggs one at a time mixing slowly.
Microwave chocolate chips and butter for 20-30 seconds. Mix until creamy and all melted. Mix melted dark chocolate with chocolate filling.

Place dark chocolate chips on bottom of crust. Pour chocolate filling into pie crust 1/2 full. Slowly scoop raspberry purée onto chocolate filling. Create a layer of raspberry. Slowly scoop chocolate filling on top of raspberry layer.  Refrigerate leftover raspberry sauce.

Place pie in oven at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Pie should look done (cooked, firm along edges, and small bubbles) on top but be jiggly in the center. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours minimum. I like to let it refrigerate overnight before serving.

Place fresh raspberries on top of pie for decoration, serve with heated sauce, or whipped cream.
Enjoy!

Weightlifting for Weight Loss

One of my pet peeves is when girls tell me they don't lift weights because they don't want to look like this:

You will not become this without some medicinal help (aka steroids). Women just don't have the capacity to build muscle like that naturally. So no need to worry about that happening to you if you lift weights. This will never become your body unless you work extremely hard to achieve it. What you may achieve through lifting weights could be a body like this:

This is Jaime Eason a popular fitness model and trainer on bodybuilding.com. She advocates weight lifting and lifting a lot of weight. In order to have her lean and defined body she lifts some heavy weight. I've been following her 12 week program on bodybuilding.com and it is fabulous. There are some things I'd change about it in order to use time better and help recover your muscles. It's a great program nonetheless. 

Now if the visuals weren't convincing enough let me tell you a couple of facts. Weight lifting increases your metabolism. No food you eat will increase your metabolism. Sorry to burst any bubbles but you can not do that through diet. The way your metabolism is the calorie requirement that your body needs to function each day. Muscle mass uses the highest amount of calories. The more body mass and muscle mass you have the higher your metabolism will be. Since most people do not want to increase their body mass the only way to increase your metabolism is through increasing your muscle mass. We increase our muscle mass by lifting weights! Weightlifting burns about 9 calories a minute during the exercise but it continues to burn calories throughout the next 24 hours. It increases your body's need for energy during the time in which the muscle is repairing itself. 

So in summary weight lifting is good for weight loss because it will increase your metabolism, help you look like Jaime Eason, and still burn a ton of calories during your workout.  

For those of you ladies who are more concerned about your health, I have a few facts for you too. Exercise, such as weight lifting, lowers your blood pressure and helps you handle stress better. Any weight-bearing exercise has been shown to help lower your risk of osteoporosis. This is common as women age and can be very dangerous. Weight-bearing exercise like weight lifting helps to prevent bone loss and strengthen muscles. Muscle growth begins to slow and stop as we reach middle age. Many people see that they lose muscle mass at the same time. this also means their metabolism slows down. However most people continue to eat the way they have their whole life. These are common reason's for weight gain as you reach middle adulthood. By continuing to lift weights throughout this time you can maintain your muscle mass and your metabolism. Like they say, if you don't use it, you lose it. 

How to apply this to your life:

I recommend that all women incorporate weightlifting into their routine. I'd recommend at least 3 days a week that focuses on weight lifting. There are several resources you can use to begin a program. ACE has an exercise library by muscle group. their explanations are very thorough and  have pictures. Bodybuilding.com also has an exercise library by muscle group. Both of these databases have rating systems to tell you which moves are good for beginners, intermediates, and advanced populations. If you are interested in weight loss I recommend lifting weights first (to help build muscle and get that post-workout calorie consumption) followed by a session of cardio. This will help you burn a lot of calories and gain the lean defined body you desire.

Happy lifting! :)

Ice Cream

Personally eating healthy doesn't mean making huge sacrifices. I love food and refuse to eat bland food because it's healthy. I think healthy eating just means you need to be more creative. Pinterest is a wonderful resource to spark my creativity. It was there I found this awesome recipe for healthy ice cream. Here's a recipe for ice cream that's easy to make and healthy.

What you will need:
Food processor
Freezer
Bananas

Flavoring options:

cocoa powder

peanut butter

raspberries

strawberries

chocolate chips

oreos

 (if you don't get too crazy then even the higher calorie options are fine. All things in moderation, right?)

Recipe:

First take some bananas and slice them place them in plastic sandwich bags and put them in the freezer.

Once they are frozen place the bananas, and toppings in your food processor on grind until the bananas become a creamy texture.

Scoop into a bowl and enjoy!

this ice cream can be refrozen and saved for a later time but it will take a couple minutes to thaw into that creamy soft serve texture.

This is the link to the actual page I found this on. http://userealbutter.com/2010/08/12/single-ingredient-ice-cream-recipe/

4 myths debunked

I was reading in my consumer health text book today and found this nugget of information. I feel like a lot of people fall prey to some common health myths that I'd like to clear up right now.

1. Most people who take vitamin supplements don't need them.
2. Vitamins do not make people more energetic, more muscular, or less stressed.
3. "Organically grown" foods are neither safer nor more nutritious than conventionally produced foods
4. No prescription pill can produce rapid or permanent weight loss.

This information is meant for normal healthy individuals. There are some cases where individuals do need vitamin supplements because of vitamin deficiencies. Your doctor will test for those if you are feeling fatigued or sick and in those cases they may help those individuals feel more energetic. From reading this textbook and my prior classes I've come to the conclusion that vitamins are simply a waste of your money unless a doctor tells you to take them.

Reference:
London, William M., Robert S. Baratz, and Manfred Kroger. "Consumer Health Issues." Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions. By Stephen Barrett. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 7. Print.