My Guilty Confession

Who ate the peanut butter in the peanut butter jar? Who me? Couldn't be... Then who? Must be my 3 year old!

I wish I could blame it on him!!! I am obsessed with peanut butter and the sad part is I just bought that jar a few days ago:( WOW! Not being so conscious of how much I was eating!! Time to take a break from peanut butter and switch to almond butter;) Or maybe just eat them both in moderation and not half the whole jar within a couple of days!!

and here is one of the many ways I gave into my obsession with peanut butter... Okay and maybe I had an extra spoonful while I was making this...

This can be a great diet snack, if you don't eat extra peanut butter like me! 

Rice Cracker Open Face Sandwich

(Peanut Butter & Banana Style)

1 brown rice cracker

1 tablespoon peanut butter or another nut butter

1/4-1/2 sliced bananas

Serves 1

150 calories (1/4 sliced bananas)

Health tip:

Rice crackers are a great bread substitution and are super low in calories. Rice crackers by them self, mm, not so good. Rice cracker made into an open face sandwich. I think so!

Texas Chili

This is one of our FAVORITE meals and once again it is a recipe I got from my mother in law. It is one of those meals the whole family looks forward to!

Texas Chili

Ingredients:

1 ½ pound boneless beef (top round steak or roast), cut into bite size chunks

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 cup onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 (16 ounce) cans tomatoes (or stewed tomatoes)

1 cup beef broth

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon of sucanat or brown sugar

2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

1 ½ teaspoon cumin, ground

½ teaspoon salt

1 can of black beans, drained (optional)*


Toppings:
Cheddar cheese
Greek yogurt or sour cream
Avocado or guacamole
Tortilla chips

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet or large pot. Season beef with salt and pepper. Add beef, onions, and garlic in skillet/large pot and cook until browned (not cooked through).
There are two options to continue cooking the Texas Chili:
a.) Place beef mixture along with all the other ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours.
Or over the stove which creates a thicker chili.
b.) After browning the beef, add all the other ingredients to the large pot and simmer with the lid (stirring every once and a while) on for at least 4-6 hours. Or even longer, the longer the better! The last hour take the lid off so the chili will thicken up a bit. 

Serve over brown or wild rice.

Top with cheddar cheese, greek yogurt or sour cream, guacamole or avocados.

Best with tortilla chips!

Options: My husband also loves making a Texas chili burrito. Places everything in a tortilla!

*My mother in law also loves it with black beans,  so you can just through a can of drained black beans into the crock pot or pot 10 minutes before serving. (But is may not be considered true Texas chili with beans  in it!)

Health Tip:

Tomatoes are a treasure of riches when it comes to their antioxidant benefits. In terms of conventional antioxidants, tomatoes provide an excellent amount of vitamin C and beta-carotene; a very good amount of the mineral manganese; and a good amount of vitamin E. In terms of phytonutrients, tomatoes are basically off the chart!

Source: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=44

Healthy Vanilla Ice Cream

So a couple days ago I had one of those not so good days, where I usually cave to any temptation that comes my way especially ice cream (my one true weakness). I was offered ice cream 3 different times and I was sooo surprised that I didn't want it because on days like that is where calories and junk food don't count!
For the past month and a half I have had "white" sugar once or twice, it was definitely hard and I had such a hard time when anyone ate ice cream in front of me especially the king kong cones!

It's true I use to eat those! UGH! But let me tell you, I now feel amazing and don't even crave it anymore! I was so addicted to sugar and I hated the way it made me feel. So being off sugar made the once beloved ice cream not so appetizing with all it's artificial, sugary ingredients!

I still love ice cream though, don't get be wrong just not all the overly processed ones like I use too. So here is an ice cream I can have on bad days or good days and feel guilt free about eating it, knowing that it is not creating havoc in my body. And it is oh so delicious & healthy for you!

Healthy Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 can of coconut milk

1 cup milk (I used so delicious vanilla sugar free coconut milk)

1/4 cup agave*

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together, chill, & put into ice cream maker and use according to manufacture's directions. (while the ice cream was churning in the machine, my little boy kept hovering over, mmm that smells yummy!)
Serves: 6 (1/2 cup) servings

 Serve plain, with fruit, healthy chocolate syrup, or any toppings you want. If you freeze it, you will need to let it thaw before eating it again.

*You can substitute for any sweetener you want. You can probably reduce the calories by doing half stevia half agave.

Health Tip:
Never thought you could lose weight with ice cream?! Now you can due to the benefits of the fabulous coconut! (In moderation of course!)
Coconut promotes loss of excess weight by increasing metabolic rate. 
 Check out more coconut benefits: .
When Fat is Good For You!

The Liebster Award -First Award!

I was awarded the Leibster Blog Award by Susan @ The Royal Cook! It is an award for up and coming bloggers who have a following list of less than 200. Liebster is a German word that means favorite or dearest.) Part of getting the award is going out and finding 5 other blogs you love and awarding them as well.

The really cool part about the award is that it comes from fellow bloggers and I would love to pass on the award to 5 other blogs... 

I am passing on the Liebster Blog Award to the following blogs in no particular order...

Juggling with Kids
Tons of fun cute craft ideas for kids!
Blondesense and Nonsense

The musings of just another brainless, blonde, OC housewife with a major clothing addiction.

Pursuit of Confidence

A feel good blog! 
Yammies noshery
A big sister who cooks for a family of nine!
Art and Lemons
Where Nikki Gardner is obsessed with good stories and food. Here, you’ll find straightforward vegetarian recipes made with whole and natural ingredients.


Congratulations! You all are awesome!

More Chocolate Please!

   

So I know I have done a post about how amazing raw cacao powder is already, but I cant get over it!! It caught my attention again when I was watching a documentary called Food Matters. I am trying to get this super food in my body everyday to help me have a healthy body! Best part it is sooo good! Who doesn't love chocolate?! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dip

Raw Cocoa (Cacao) is the Most Powerful Antioxidant Food!

Healthy Fudge

Raw cocoa has the highest antioxidant value of all the natural foods in the world!

Stuffed French Toast

Cocoa also appears to have anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties. And cocoa is a good source of the minerals magnesium, sulphur, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium, and manganese; plus some of the B Vitamins.

Almond Joy Pancakes

Cocoa has a high content of the "beauty" mineral, sulfur. Sulfur helps build strong nails and hair, promotes healthy and beautiful skin, helps detoxify the liver, and supports healthy functioning of the pancreas. 

Banana Split Pancakes

Fresh cocoa beans are super-rich in the type of bioflavonoid called flavanols which are strong antioxidants that help maintain healthy blood flow and blood pressure.

Chocolate Oatmeal Recipes

 When it comes to supplying your body with effective ANTIOXIDANTS, no other natural food can even come close.

Chocolate Syrup

Cocoa also contains the amino acid Tryptophan which makes the neurotransmitter known as serotonin, which promotes positive feelings and helps keep us from feeling depressed. Cocoa contains the neurotransmitters dopamine, and phenylethylamine (PEA), and contains anandamide and MAO Inhibitors - which make this heart-healthy food a healthy food for the brain too.

Hot Dogs

You may also be surprised to learn that dark chocolate can help you lose weight!
  Because it has appetite-suppressant properties, cocoa is often added to weight loss products to help control hunger.

While you may have been told that chocolate is "fattening", the truth is that the fats found in cocoa butter are actually healthy fats!

Chocolate Ice Cream

A List of Healthy Substances Found in Raw Chocolate 

Many of the natural chemical compounds in raw cocoa or cacao beans and in organic dark chocolate have been discussed in scientific literature as being pharmacologically significant to health. Here is a partial list of these active substances in natural organic chocolate (and more are discussed below).

• Anandamide (a neurotransmitter known as "the bliss chemical")
• Arginine (nature's aphrodisiac)
• Dopamine (a neurotransmitter)
• Epicatechins (antioxidants)
• Magnesium (for healthy heart function)
• Serotonin (anti-stress neurotransmitter)
• Tryptophan (anti-depressant amino acid)
• Phenylethylamine (PEA) (controls the ability to focus attention and stay alert)
• Polyphenols (antioxidants)
• Histamine
• Tyramine
• Salsolinol

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dip

This was a huge HIT at a girl's night we had at Erin's (my sister in law) house.

So here is how the chocolate peanut butter dip came about. This is the recipe to the original fudge recipe I used to make my healthy fudge recipe, except with less peanut butter & agave. Well with my fudge recipe you need to keep it in the refrigerator or freezer to keep its form, but we kind of left it out on the table for our girl's night and it did not keep its form too well. We started eating it out of the bowl with our spoons and boy was it delicious! Then it hit us! This would be a great dip! All we need is pretzels, apples, and whatever else our little hearts desired!

Who knew eating healthy could taste so good?!

 Check out what eating chocolate could do for you! 
More Chocolate Please!  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dip

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cacao
1 cup natural peanut butter

1 cup agave

¼ cup unrefined coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together until blended well.
Serve with apples, bananas, pretzels, graham crackers, etc.!

Healthy Cooking Magazine Give Away!

To start the new year off right we are giving away a free 1 year subscription to Healthy Cooking Taste of Homes Magazine.
(Sorry for the delay, I used the random number generator to get the winner but could not figure out how to post it on the blog!)

And the winner is.....
Alyse
with comment #4 who said "I shared my favorite recipe of yours... of course the fudge!!!"

Congratulations! Here's to a healthy year!
email us at hcmommas@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Thank you to everyone else for playing!!