Friday, August 28, 2015

Dried Apple Chips



It's apple season !! Can you smell the apple pie, taste of hot apple cider and those apples donuts - ( I know you want some - shoot those sound good RIGHT now !!  - YUM -O !!

Well,  if you get an overabundance of apples like I was fortunate to have, than you can crank out some yummy apple chips that your family will love !

I have another batch going on at this precise moment, but this time I am using a dehydrator !! But, never fear ! You can use your oven and still create a wonderful snack to take on the go !

Step 1 - 

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees

Step 2 - 

Peel... peel ... peel ... your apples ( I feel a song coming on - if you must... GO peel a banana - ha )
 I used a peeler, or if you are good you can use a knife !
OR ----- if you have one of those nifty little dandy peeler, PLUS spiral cutter THAN YES use it !!

But, if not you can use a mandala cutter- I used the one on a cheese grater and it worked great !

Try to cut them evenly as possible, this ensures that they are cooking at the same rate.

Does that ALL make sense ?? Peel the skin off and slice those apples evenly.

Step 3 - 

Arrange them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. This means no spraying the pan and adding extra stuff to your apples. You will want to make sure that you have arranged them evenly apart. Or place them on a dehydrator evenly apart. 

Step 4- 

If cooking in the oven place them in for 2- 3 hours.  You will want to take them out halfway and FLIP them over .  After you have pulled them out at the desired crispness you can enjoy them right away or let them cool and then enjoy later! They did not last long in my house, and loved to gnaw on them myself ! 

Give them a try ! You will love them ! 




Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Basil pesto - with secret ingredient - KIDS LOVE IT

I asked my 10 year old son for his input on what he wanted for dinner. Well, I asked him to help me plan the dinner for the week. Because if I am going to cook, than I might as well make sure they enjoy it as well !

And one of the recipes that he requested and which I also love is the Avocado Basil pesto over chicken.

Seriously, this recipe takes like no time, but tastes so so yummy. I love how it includes spinach and avocado.

Here are the ingredients

- 1/4 cup Basil
-2- 3 cups of Spinach
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- Salt ( I prefer to use pink Himalayan salt )
- 1 whole Avocado
- 3 garlic pieces ( more if you like it spicy )
- Parmesan cheese approx 1/4 cup
- and 1 cup of water from the cooked noodles that you will cook

Toss it all into the blender and let it go !!!

My measurements were all to my taste, so add and remove as you like!

Once all blended up I poured it over my pasta and added my chicken !

Served it up and they ate it up !!!



Black Bean Brownie Recipe

I'm all for moderation when it comes to my diet! Which means if I want to eat something yummy I will dive in and take a bite!!

But, I know all too well that if I eat too many treats than those treats will go to my waistline, cause me to break out and cause my energy levels to get low!

So, finding new healthy treats to satisfy my sweet tooth definitely perks my interest !

I had made black bean brownies before, but I wasn't too impressed!

So I decided to try AGAIN !

This time I took some of the suggestions that were provided in the comments section of the All Recipes website.

And here is what I made

Ingredients are as follows 

-I cooked black beans and used approx 15 oz
-3 eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla
-1/4 cup apple sauce
-1/4 cup cocoa powder
-3/4 raw sugar or any sweetener
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- Dash of salt

I tossed it all into my Blendtec and pulsed it until smooth and creamy.

After it was all done I poured it into a baking dish that was 8x8 size greased with butter.

Baked at 350 for 25 mins and then let them cool

They turned out bitter, BUT still a pleasant yummy surprise! Especially for something that has BLACK beans!

My youngest calls it cake :)

Glad that he ate it and couldn't detect the black beans!

I did enjoy some warmed up cake with a scoop of  vanilla  :) Super -YUM !!