Summer Peach Salad

I usually don't post a ton of Salads, cuz technically anyone can throw together any kind of Salad with any kind of toppings and be satisfied.  But I truly can't stop eating this one.  I've eaten it 5 days in a row for lunch because I love it that much!

I got this from Lilly Loves Macros on Instagram, and it's a complete Winner!  I Love everything about this salad!  So join me below for the fantastic recipe!

For the Chicken, I use a pre-cooled Chicken I get at Sams Club called John Soules Foods, the Fajita Chicken flavor, and I just throw it on a skillet for 5 minutes to sizzle up while I'm chopping everything else up!


Serves 1

Summer Peach Salad

2 Cups Greens
4.5 ounces Grilled Chicken (see note above for easy pre-cooked Chicken)
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1/4 Cup Corn on the cob (cut from the cob)
1/4 cup chopped Vine Tomato
1/2 of a Peach sliced
1 0z Fat free Feta Cheese
Avacado (optional if you have extra fats to spare)
Purple onion chopped and sprinkled on top

Dressing:
I use 1 Tbls of Balsamic Dressing
Dash of salt and Pepper

Healthy Greek Salad

So I've been promising this "recipe" of my favorite Salad for months!!!  It's hard really to call a salad a recipe because you basically throw what you want in a salad, but this my friends is perfection to me!  I LOVE it too much!

 The Tzatziki Dip really sills the deal!  This is what makes it like a greek gyro, but made Salad!

 As for the dressing, you could do any balsamic dressing really, but this Greek Vinaigrette is amazing on it!!

Serves 1

Healthy Greek Salad

4-5 Ounces Grilled Chicken
1/4 Cup Chopped Red Pepper
2 Cups Lettuce/Spinach
1 Mini Cucumber Sliced
1 1/2 TBSP Feta Cheese
Cherry Tomatoes
Red Onions sliced thinly
2 TBSP favorite Dressing

Start with Grilling your Chicken ( 80% of the Time I use John Soules pre cooked grilled Fajita Chicken). I warm it up on a pan with Lemon flavored olive oil and Italian Seasoning.  I also chop the red peppers and sauce them with the chicken.  Then just load everything on top and enjoy!  I forgot to add my onions in this picture, but they are a great add!!

Cocoa Energy Bites

This Energy Bite has an amazing texture!  And even though it is cocoa, there is also some Peanut Butter in there!  Can I get a Woot! Woot!  You can't really taste the Peanut Butter in this recipe, but it's sort of just a comfort thing for me, you know?  I actually got this recipe from my cute friend Aimee, hope she doesn't mind me sharing because they have become a staple!  I actually made these and lost the recipe at least 4 times, and had to keep texting her for the recipe, so I thought it was about time I put it on my blog!

These, like any other Energy Bite, are soo versatile!  You can pretty much anything to them as long as you have a good base.  The right amount of dry to the right amount of wet.  Then add your chunks of what ever floats your boat for any amazing snack to pop in your mouth!

Recipe:

1/2 Cup Oatmeal
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1/3 Cup Honey
1/2 Cup coconut
1/4 Cup Chia Seeds
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate chips or chunks

Directions:
Add Peanut Butter and Honey to microwavable bowl and heat together for 20 seconds.  Add to your mixing bowl with the rest of your ingredients and mix well.  Form into small balls and put on wax paper in fridge until chilled.  Store in air tight container, and enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Energy Bites

Well, a whole year has passed since I last posted and I feel totally ashamed!  Life is crazy and I'm too lazy to take pics of my food when I need to!  haha!

Anyways!  We all know that Energy Bites are now the healthy craze for a yummy snack to have on hand!  This is a great recipe you can use as your base, then chooses to add in anything else that you like!!

I of course live on Peanut Butter, so my add in of choice was peanut Butter chips!  Welcome to the Coats household!  These recipes are too easy to make and you can have a yummy snack for days to come!  I will be posting a cocoa recipe soon that you can drool on as well!

RECIPE
(adapted from Melskitchencafe.com)

1 Cup (3.5 ounces) old fashioned Oats
1/3 cup (1.25 ounces) ground flaxseed meal
3/4 -1 Cup Nut Butter (I use peanut butter)
1/4 Cup (3 ounces) Honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Optional Add-ins: mini chocolate chips, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, dried fruit, chia seeds, etc...

Pulse the Oats in a blender a few times to chop them up.  Warm up the peanut butter and honey for 20 seconds.  Add to the bowl, then add remaining ingredients.  If it seems dry, add a bit more nut butter until consistency is soft but not sticky or crumbly.  Roll into balls, and place on wax paper in the fridge for 30 minutes until cooled.  Then store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks!

Coconut Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

Wow, What a a mouthful! Coconut Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice!  I know, everyone knows about the Cauliflower Rice, it's been going on for quite a while now.  And I like cauliflower rice, but I made this the other night, and had to make it again the next night because I loved it soo much.  LOVE is a strong word, and I have weird food relationships, and get slightly obsessed over food sometimes, but you will LOVE this "Rice" too!  Promise!  Seriously it is just bursting with sooo much flavor, you will not even notice that it's not real rice!

I Served it with marinated lime coconut milk, cilantro Chicken and what was supposed to be grilled vegetables ended up getting thrown in the oven last minute because we ran out of propane!!!  

CAULIFLOWER RICE

1/2 Head Cauliflower - Riced in a blender
1 Tblsp - Coconut Oil
1/2 Lime
1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro
2 Tblsp - Coconut milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

First start with cutting your cauliflower down pretty good with no stems.  Stick the florets into your blender and pulse it maybe 3 times.  You don't want it too small that it gets mushy with heat.  Heat your oil onto a skillet pan and add your riced cauliflower.  Season really well with Salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes.  Once cooked through add in your lime and Cilantro, then add in your Coconut milk.  I just used the silk brand coconut milk that comes in a carton that you put in your fridge.  Cook and stir constantly for another 2 minutes or so, then remove from heat so it doesn't sog up.  Serve with anything!  It's Fabulous!

Almond Butter Bombs

So I know I haven't posted a lot of meals lately, but when you are clean eating, it mostly comes down to a meat, and a veggie, and different ways to cook it up!  Ha! Ha!  So it's hard for me to put basic stuff on here.  But these bad boys have become my staple in the past 3 weeks!  Literally I have made them 4 times, and this is my treat.  They are absolutely delicious!  I'm following a Metabolism Re-set, well I'm past that, now onto the Fast Metabolism Diet, where I came across this recipe, and have since tweaked them to make them awesome!!!  Literally, they take me 20 minutes from start to finish!

It's a small batch, so it only makes about 12 small cookies, umm, I mean Almond Butter Bombs. They do taste like cookies though! They are sort of called a fat bomb, because they are loaded with Almond Butter (your healthy fat).  During this FMD, you have 3 phases per week, and on Friday Saturday and Sunday (phase 3), your 2 snacks for the day is supposed to be a Healthy Fat source.

I truly think they are divine.......

Almond Butter Bombs
Approx 12 Bombs

Time: 20 minutes - Start to Finish

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Organic Rolled oats  *see note below
1/2 Cup Almond Butter - microwaved for 30 seconds
1/4 Cup Stevia Sweetener Baking Blend
3 Tblsp - Peanut Butter Protein Powder
2 Tblsp - Organic Apple Sauce
1 egg White or 2 Tblsp out of carton
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp maple extract (you can use vanilla, but I highly recommend Maple)  Sometimes I add a squirt of Pure Maple syrup in there too!
1/4 tsp Salt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together.  The true recipe calls for 1/2 Cup + 2 Tblsp Oats.  I wanted to lessen the Carbs and add Protein so I added the 3 Tblsp of Protein Powder instead.  Roll the dough into 12 balls and cook for 8 minutes.  They may not look done, but they are!  You can eat right away but I prefer them refrigerated on the next day!!!

Crepes - Gluten Free

Ok, so I know I've already got 2 other Crepe recipes on here, BUT, my family loves crepes, and we eat them every Sunday!  So I experiment a lot with them.  Right now, I'm doing no sugar, no dairy and no wheat.  Yikes!  I Know!!  The things a girls got to do to try and keep a figure!  Anywho!  These Crepes!  My kids didn't flinch, didn't question, didn't nothing!  They loved them as usual AND I actually got to eat them during this strict meal plan I'm doing, and ENJOY them!  Ok, I didn't get to enjoy them with Peanut Butter and Pure maple syrup as I usually do, but I put drizzled Almond butter and crushed berries on them and didn't feel deprived at all!  YUMM!



This Recipe is very similar to my other recipes, but with a few tweaks to make it work!:

CREPES - GLUTEN FREE

8 eggs
2 Cups - Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (or your choice of unsweetened non dairy milk)
2 TBLSP - Olive Oil (Or coconut oil)
2 tsp - Pure Vanilla extract
2 tsp - powdered stevia
1 tsp- salt
1 Cup - Organic Oat Flour
1 Cup - Tapioca Flour** (see note below)

Combine all ingredients except for the gluten free flours and mix until well blended.  Slowly add in the Oat flour and the Tapioca flour.  There will be slight lumps in the batter, just work them out as much as you can without over beating.  I kind of just squish them down with my measuring cup as I pour them into the pan.  I have two crepe pans going at one time to keep this moving along.  Make sure the pans are hot, and if you are using a non-stick pan, you only need to spray oil on it once in the beginning.  I pour between 1/4-1/3 cup of batter onto pan and swirl it around, then flip when bubbles are showing and its has slight browning spots on the bottom.
Serve hot & Enjoy!

**The Tapioca Flour gave these crepes a great texture.  Very springy and squishy.  They held up better than any other gluten free flours I've tried in the past (and I think I've tried them all!!)

Spicy Blackened Tilapia Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Cream Sauce

If you know anything about me, or have looked through my blogs, I HATE, (yes that's a strong word) Hate, seafood!  I mean, I can't even to tuna fish.  No shrimp, no California roll, Nothing!  So don't ask me why I've been on a quest to get a good tilapia recipe.  I guess you can say it's the one fish, I could almost, kinda, sorta tolerate if I was forced to take a bite!  But I just know how healthy fish can be, so when I saw this recipe, I decided to give it a whirl, and seriously ate it 3 times in 1 week because I LOVED it that much!  So give it try!

 BLACKENED FISH TACOS WITH AVOCADO-CILANTRO SAUCE

 

hOST THE tOAST

PREP TIME

15 mins

COOK TIME

10 mins

TOTAL TIME

25 mins

 

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

For the Blackened Fish:

• 1.5 lbs tilapia fillets
• 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon brown sugar / I used organic coconut sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
• 6 corn tortillas

For the Slaw:

• ½ red cabbage, sliced thin
• ¼ green cabbage, sliced thin
• ½ medium-sized onion, diced
• ½ cup cilantro - chopped
• Juice of 1 lime

For the Avocado-Cilantro Sauce:

• ½ cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt
• 1 ripe avocado, pitted and skinned
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded
• Salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, dried oregano, onion powder, cumin, salt, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of your tilapia fillets, and then rub the seasonings in.
2. Combine all of the Avocado-Cilantro Sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pulse until well-combined.
3. Combine all of the Slaw ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
4. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Once heated, add in the tilapia (a few at a time if you can't fit them all at once). Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until the outside is blackened and the fish flakes apart easily.
5. Remove the fish from the heat, and warm the corn tortillas on a skillet over medium heat, cooking for about 30 seconds on each side.
6. Break up the tilapia into 2-3" pieces.  Distribute the fish evenly between the 6 tortillas, and top with Slaw and Avocado-Cilantro Sauce. Serve.

Recipe adapted from: Host the Toast Food Blog

Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

So I know that I've mentioned this before, but the way I create my recipes, is by looking at at LEAST 3 recipes of the meal I want to prepare, and basically take what I want from each recipes, and make my own hand crafted version of the ingredients I love!  That's the way I work!  And it works good for me!  I actually have a recipe of lettuce wraps on my blog HERE, but this version hit the spot for me.  Much more flavorable, and much easier!  Can I get a woot woot for crockpot meals?!?!?!?

I made these for dinner earlier in the week and my husband loved them!  So when I informed him I was in charge of the Appetizer for a progressive dinner this past Friday, I asked him what appetizer I should make, and he said "Is that even a question?!"  Ha Ha!  So of course Lettuce wraps is what I made!  And they were a hit!  The first time I made these, I used Romaine Lettuce.  And the second time I used these live Butter Leaves.  They both have their Pros and Cons.  I actually liked eating these with the Romaine Leaves because it gives a better crunch and holds the juices in better.  But they aren't soo pretty and sometimes they crack.  The Butter Leaves are just pretty, now aren't they?  They take good pictures and they are presentable.  But they are soft, no crunch and juice gets everywhere.  So you get to pick and choose for yourself.

Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Yield: About 12 wraps, about 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tblsp olive oil
• 2 lbs ground chicken 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1  Zucchini, chopped small
• 1 red bell pepper, cored and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil 
• Romaine Lettuce or Live Butter Leaves
• 1/4 chopped peanuts or Cashews

Directions

• Place oil and ground chicken in a large skillet and cook until browned.  Drain the fat and pour into a 5 - 7 quart slow cooker. Add zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and garlic back to the skillet and saute until softened, about 3-5 minutes.  Add to your crock pot and add in your hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and toss mixture. Cover and cook on low heat about  3 hours until chicken is tender.
• Stir in your green onions and cook until heated through 3 - 5 minutes.  Separate lettuce leaves and serve with chicken filling and add your peanuts.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This soup is fantastic!  Who doesn't love a good healthy filling soup?  I've been meaning to post this all season, and I'm just not soo good at getting my recipes up anymore!  This soup is super easy, with easy ingredients as well!  Go ahead and give it a try!  It's super good for the new waistline we are all looking for right now!!

If your looking to go Paleo, all you have to do is leave out the sour cream and tortilla chips if your super strict!  Oh and the Pico on top of this is amazing!  I will be posting that next!!

Serves 4-5

 Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• a dash (or two) cayenne
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 5 c. chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• juice of ½ lime
• pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp. taco seasoning
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• olive oil (to taste)
• pico de gallo - Recipe HERE
• 2-3 avocados, diced
• cheese (optional)
• tortilla strips (optional)
• cilantro (for garnish)
• lime wedges (for garnish)

Instructions

1. In a small skillet, saute onion in 1 Tbsp. oil until onions become slightly soft. Stir in cumin, cayenne, and chili powder and saute an additional minute or two.
2. Transfer seasoned onions to a small crock pot (or medium-sized saucepan). Add chicken broth, cliantro, lime juice, pepper and pinto beans to onions and simmer on low-heat for at least 2-3 hours.
3. In the meantime (when you are close to serving), combine taco seasoning and paprika. Brush chicken with oil and rub with taco seasoning/paprika mixture. Grill chicken over medium-heat until cooked through (try to turn only once during the grilling process). Remove from grill and shred.
4. In individual bowls layer chicken, about ⅓ c. pico de gallo, ⅓ c. diced avocado, and ⅓ c. pepper jack cheese. Ladle about 1 cup of chicken broth directly over the layers. Top with tortilla strips and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.  

**  If you are in a hurry, you can use already cooked chicken and throw it in the crockpot, or heat it up right before serving.

Hawaiin Popcorn

 Ok, so this isn't a special popcorn you have to purchase in Hawaii, but  the first time I've ever tasted this kind of popcorn, I was in Hawaii.  And FELL. IN. LOVE.  I have problems with anything salty as it is, popcorn, tortilla chips, peanut butter.  Oh wait, is Peanut Butter salty?  It doesn't matter, I have problems with it anyways!  Back to this popcorn, it has an ingredient in it called Nutritional Yeast.  Don't worry, it's not the kind of yeast that makes your bread rise, it's a seasoning or spice that gives this popcorn kind of a cheesy flavor.  But not really!  You know those cheetos that are covered in that white cheesy powder?  It's kind of like that.  But with loads of other flavors going on!  But super healthy for you!  Always!!  You can find it at any health food store.

 Here are the necessary ingredients to make this popcorn wowser!!!  You need Coconut Oil, Pam Coconut spray, Sea Salt, Nutritional Yeast, and of course your kernals!

Popcorn
2 Servings:

1/3 Cup Kernals
1/2 TBLSP Coconut Oil
2 Tblsp Nutrional Yeast
Coconut Oil Pam Spray (you could use butter if that's all you have)
Sea Salt - to your desired saltiness!

I have a popper.  So I just add my coconut oil to the popper with the kernals and let it do its thing.  When it's done I immediately spray it with the coconut spray, and then quickly add 1 tblsp of nutrional yeast and a good shake of the salt.  Then I stir it and repeat.  Spray with the coconut spray then quickly add your last tblsp of nutritional yeast and another good shake of salt.  I like salt.

Biggest Loser Crockpot Turkey Chilli

If your like me, you've probably tried 10 different chilli recipes, just cuz.  One of my favorite recipes is already listed on my blog under Coats Family Chilli.  But that is definitely a sweet version.  This version has no brown sugar in it.  And it has Chipotle  peppers in it.   Although this recipe is loaded with veggies and much healthier for you, my husband actually prefers this one over my original!  And there's nothing better than a crock pot recipe!!

• 2 lbs ground turkey, extra lean or 1.5 lb leftover cooked turkey, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 large celery stalks, chopped
• 3 large bell peppers, chopped
• 14 oz can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 14 oz can any white beans or black beans,  drained & rinsed
• 28 oz can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups water or low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced or to taste
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp taco seasoning, all natural
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray 

Directions

1. Preheat large skillet on high and add ground turkey. Cook until brown, stirring and breaking into small pieces with spatula, occasionally. Transfer to a large crockpot. If using leftover cooked turkey, skip the browning step.
2. Return skillet to medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add garlic, onion, celery, bell peppers and saute for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a slow cooker.
3. Add remaining ingredients to slow cooker, cover and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High. Reduce cooking time to 5 hours on Low and 3 hours on High, if using cooked turkey. Serve hot.
Storage Instructions: Refrigerate covered for up to 3 days. Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 8

Amount Per Serving = 1.5 cup:
Calories: 271.6
Total Fat: 2.0 g
Cholesterol: 45.0 mg
Sodium: 673.0 mg
Total Carbs: 33.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 8.0 g
Protein: 33.8 g
WW Points+: 6

Skinny Chicken Salad

So I'm not gonna lie.  I've kind of been eating the same thing for lunch almost every day for two weeks now.  That would be the Healthy Thai Chicken Salad I posted Last week, and this Skinny Chicken Salad I'm posting today, both from OUR BEST BITES!

This recipe, I've actually eaten tons in the past year but with a little spin on it I'll share with you at the end if you want to mix it up.

Just looking at this salad you feel healthy, right? And it seriously is delishous!!

 You can eat it out of a bowl, or add it to a big peice of lettuce and make it a lettuce wrap.

Yeild:  1 Serving

4 oz, or 1 Cup diced or shredded Chicken
1/4 Cup diced apple (gala is my favorite)
2 TBSP diced green onion
1/4 Cup or one stalk celery diced
1 TBSP light mayo
1 TBSP greek yogurt or light sour cream
1/4 tsp red wine vinegar
1/8 tsp curry powder
1 TBSP sunflower seeds or sliced Almonds

Combine all the ingredients above and enjoy!  Or combine all ingredients except the seeds or almonds and chill for an hour, then add and enjoy!

The other option I have for this salad is to leave out the curry powder and green onion, but you add 1 cup of shredded cabbage/coleslaw, and no nuts.  It is soo yummy this way as well!!!

Healthy Thai Chicken Salad

 So Happy New Year!  I think this time of year everyone has New Years Resolutions to eat healthier.  I know I do every year.  I can't help but to indulge in the holiday foods that are passed around and baked in my home!  Usually I gain at least 5 lbs from Halloween to New Years Eve, then vow to get it back off by April.  This year, I am happy to report I actually lost 10 lbs in the past 2 months.  It took a lot of self control to pass up the goodies, but I made sure not to deprive myself of my absolute favorites!!
Anyways, onto this Thai Chicken Salad.  Yumm!  I adapted this from of course my favorite food blog, OUR BEST BITES!!  I left a few things out, and changed portion sizes because I recalculated their calculations and they were way off.  They said it was 399 calories and it was way over!  So I made it 373 calories and very satisfying!!!

I use this PB2 powdered peanut butter in place of regular peanut butter to save a LOT of calories.  I use it in my Protein Shakes as well and it tastes great!!

Yeilds: 1 serving
373 calories using the PB2 rather than creamy peanut butter

1 Cup shredded cabbage
3/4 Cup cooked shredded chicken
1/4 Cup cooked and cooled Quinoa
1 Green Onion - Diced
1/4 Cup - diced celery
2 TBLSP- chopped cilantro

Dressing:
1 TBLSP - PB2 (powdered peanut butter) or creamy Peanut Butter
1 tsp - olive oil
1 TBLSP- rice vinegar
1 tsp - soy sauce
1 tsp - agava or honey

1 TBLSP- chopped cashews
1 lime wedge

Combine the top salad ingredients.  I like to bake my chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic at 350 for about 25-35 min, depending on size of chicken breasts.  And precook them by golly so your not having to wait soo long for lunch!!  The quinoa as well.  Pre-cook and store in refridgerator.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whip it until well combined.  Pour it over your salad and toss to combine.  Top with your cashews and a squirt of lime.
That my friends, is a good, healthy salad!!

Cottage Cheese Delight!

Hello!  Happy New Year!  I'm 2 weeks away from delivering my baby and home with Bronchitis, but hey, I hope you are having a happy new year!!!  A friend of mine posted this on facebook and of course I'm always up for trying new recipes that look yummy and healthy!  And practically contained every ingredient that I love!  The only problem was, there wasn't a name for it so I had to come up with something fancy for it, and nothing came to me, so Cottage Cheese Delight is what I got!  Now for all you Paleo goers out there this could or could not be paleo depending on how strict you allow dairy into your diet!  I'm not that strict when I choose to be paleo so I would definitley allow this on my menu!  (Hopefully Paleo comes back full force after this baby is born, but for now, uh uh, no way)

The VIVA lowfat cottage cheese is my favorite brand.  I think it has the best texture and taste and I've tried quite a few.  I also like these mini cucumbers that are soo easy to chop up.  I added the blackberries to the list because I had them and was very much glad I did!  It brought a great sweat/tartness to it that was awesome!!

1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese
1/2 Avocado - pitted and chopped
1/4 Cup chopped cucumber
1 green onion - green ends only, chopped
red grapes - handful, washed
Blackberries - handful, washed
Salt & Pepper

Just dump everything into a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper to your taste, AND ENJOY!!!!  I had this for lunch for 3 days straight and loved it!  Thank you Jen!!!

Cabbage Soup

I Know!  Cabbage Soup doesn't sound very enticing does it?!?!?  But believe me you wont be sorry if you try this soup, and your bodies wont hate you either!!!  I'm sure you've all heard of the Cabbage Soup diet, right?  Well this is that, but on steroids and tastes way better!  My mom used to make it a lot and so I've never had a problem with it and I actually really liked it!  And just recently I had stinky cabbage in my fridge that had to be cooked asap, so I started searching for recipes, and combined my moms recipe with a few extra ingredients and absolutely LOVE this soup!  And so does Chris if that tells you anything!  Most recipes don't tell you to put ground beef in it, but I think it's a must and it definitely fills your belly a lot quicker!  This recipe is PALEO.  If you are crazy strict paleo and think beef broth from a can is bad for you, then go ahead and make your own beef broth.  But I let this one slide :)

1/2 lb ground beef
2 bottles stewed tomato's - blended
1 Can Beef Broth
1 Cup Chopped Cabbage
1/2 Cup chopped zucchini
1/2 Cup Chopped onion
1/2 Cup sliced carrots
1/2 Cup chopped celery
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Oregano - 1/2 tsp - to taste
Basil - 1/2 tsp - to taste
Salt & pepper to taste

Start with Browning your beef with your onion.  I like to do it in my big stock pot so I only have to use one pan.  Once beef is browned add your olive oil and the rest of your vegetables.  For the carrots, this time I just used baby carrots and stuck them in my salad shooter and sliced them thin so they would soften fast.  For the stewed tomato's, I used my own bottled tomatos and blended them in my ninja, juice and all and add it to the stock pot.  Add your beef broth and your seasonings to taste and let simmer for 20-30 min.  Long enough to let the flavors marinate, and the veggies to soften up.  Enjoy!