Couscous with Almonds & Broccoli

I was over the top impressed with this recipe. My step mother was the first to make it for me, but this was the first time I actually made it myself, and man was it easy. Another healthy, tasty, quick meal for weeknights. You're welcome! ;)

• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ cup of silvered almonds
• ½ tsp of dried sage
• ¼ each of salt and pepper
• 3 ½ cups of chicken broth
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 cups of frozen broccoli
• 2 cups of couscous

1. In a heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, almonds and sage, cook until onions are translucent.

2. Add the chicken broth, carrots, and broccoli and bring to a boil.

3. Remove from heat, add couscous, cover and let stand until the broth is absorbed and couscous is cooked (about 5 minutes) fluff with a fork and enjoy!

Pork Lettuce Wraps

This recipe was recommended by my sister. It’s a quick weeknight meal that’s delicious, low carb, and healthy! What more could you could ask for? In fact, you could swap out the pork for ground turkey to make it a little more lean!

• 1 package of ground pork
• Olive Oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 cup of mushrooms, diced
• 1 tbsp of ginger, grated
• 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/3 cup of Hoisin sauce
• Romaine lettuce leafs

1. In a large skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat and saute onion and red pepper until soft.

2. Add in the ground pork , mushrooms, ginger and garlic and cook until the pork is no longer pink. Mix in the hoisin sauce and cook through.

3. Spoon filling into the lettuce leafs, wrap and enjoy your guilt free meal!

Pumpkin Apple Cake

Happy Fall Y’all!

Or for those of us that live in Southern Alberta, Winter. Yes, we got snow already. Sometimes I wonder why I live here, then I spend a day in mountains with Andrew and remember why.

Anyway this cake is the essence of Fall, pumpkin, apples and a dash of cinnamon. It’s an easy, no fail recipe, that gives you a moist cake that isn’t too sweet, perfect with your morning cup of joe.

• ½ cup of butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 4 apples, diced into cubes
• 1 cup of canned pumpkin
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• ½ tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• ½ tsp of nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease a bundt pan and set aside.

2. In a large bowl or kitchen aid, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla, eggs, pumpkin and apples, mix well.

3. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients and pour batter evening into the pan.

4. Bake for approx. 55 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool before turning pan over.

Caprese Pasta Salad

Caprese Salad is one of all-time favorite things. So I naturally gravitated to this recipe. It’s a nice light side dish, perfect for a warm summer day…….ahhh who am I kidding? I would eat this morning, noon and night, every season of the year. Yes, it’s THAT good!

• 2 cups of Pasta, cooked and drained
• 1 container of cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 container of Bocconcini cheese
• ½ cup of fresh basil, chopped finely
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Dressing

• 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of garlic

1. In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, tomatoes, and basil. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients for the dressing. Drizzle onto the pasta. Add as much or as little as you like. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Cookies n Cream Puppy Chow

 

A few of my co-workers requested more puppy chow, so I decided to mix it up a little and try out a new recipe. And let me tell you, this one was every bit as good as original one I tried. You just can't stop eating this stuff, it's totally addictive!

"Cream" Puppy Chow

• ½ box of Rice Chex Cereal
• 1 cup of white chocolate chips
• ½ cup of Oreo cookie crumbs
• 1 cup of powdered sugar

"Cookies" Puppy Chow

• ½ box of Rice Chex Cereal
• 1 cup of milk chocolate chips
• ½ cup of Oreo cookie crumbs
• 1 cup of powdered sugar

1 bag of Oreos, broken into bite sized pieces


"Cream" Puppy Chow:

1. Line a large baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.

2. Place half of Chex cereal into a large bowl. Measure out powdered sugar and Oreo crumbs and place into a large zip lock bag or tupperware container with a lid. Set aside. (Keep powdered sugar handy in case you need to add more when mixing)

3. Melt white chocolate and stir until smooth. Pour melted chocolate over rice cereal and stir until coated.

4. Transfer chocolate coated rice cereal into your plastic bag or tupperware container with sugar/cookies. And shake until even coated.

5. Dump onto the cookie sheet to cool.

6 . Repeat steps 1-6 using "Cookies" Puppy Chow ingredients.

7. Once cooled, mix the "Cookies" and "Cream" Puppy Chow together andmix in the broken up Oreo cookie pieces.

Holy Guacamole

If I had to choose between guac and salsa, I’m a guacamole girl all the way! I love the stuff, can’t get enough. That pretty much goes for avocados in general. I will add them to sandwiches, wraps, pasta, pretty much anything I can.

I used to struggle to find the perfect time to use avocados. They wouldn’t be ripe enough so I’d wait then go to use them and they would be overly ripe. The trick is once they are just about ripe; throw them in the fridge until you’re ready to use them. The fridge pretty much stops the ripening process all together so gives you a few extra days to get your ducks in a row to make something.

The other trick with guacamole is storing it. If for some crazy reason you don’t devour the entire bowl, it will brown within hours. I used to throw it away but someone suggested covering the gauc with about half an inch of water, then using plastic wrap over the bowl and store it in the fridge overnight. Then when you want to eat it, dump the water out, give it a good mix and enjoy. This method won’t keep for much longer then the next day but at least leftovers won’t go to waste!

• 4 avocados, peeled, pitted, and mashed (leave slightly chunky)
• 1 tbsp of fresh lime or lemon juice
• ¼ cup of red onion, diced finely
• 1 tsp of garlic salt
• Pepper to taste