Tossed Green Salad with Sweet Onion Vinaigrette

My friend Debbie made this a week ago and I loved it. I am always looking for more ways to eat vegetables. This is a great way to eat them and enjoy it. I have made the salad 3 times since she gave me the recipe. It is so good. Yum! 

The salad was:

5-6 C mixed greens - spinach and romaine (or red lettuce instead of romaine)

1/2 C sliced almonds

1/2 C craisins or dried cherries etc..

1/2 C sunflower seeds
sometimes I also add a thinly sliced red onion

Optional items

1/3 C bacon bits

1/2 C shredded parmesan

Layer the ingredients so you get all the ingredients in each serving. 

I put the dressing on right before serving.  It will get soggy if you do it too far ahead. Add a little bit of dressing at a time to get just the right mix. 

dressing:

2/3 cup olive oil

1/4 honey or sugar 

2 TBSP. diced purple onion

1/2tsp. salt

3TBSP. apple cider vinegar
1/4 C chia *optional

Blend together with a wire whisk. 

*If you use bacon. An easy way to do the almonds is to take the bacon bits and the almonds and saute' them together.  This gives the almonds some of the bacon flavor and roasts them a bit.  

Toasted Quinoa with Dried Fruit and Nuts

I love looking at pictures of hot cereal. I was doing it the other day and it made me hungry and I wanted to eat all of them. I love hot cereal. It warms me up on cold days and leaves me with a very satisfied feeling. Hot cereal can be eaten anytime of the day but it is usually eaten in the morning. It reminds me of a beginning of a new day and new things to accomplish. Morning is my favorite time of the day. This cereal is delicious. The added fruit and nuts is a great addition. The great thing is it is so healthy Yum!

Ingredients

1/2 C washed quinoa
1 T coconut oil
1 C almond milk
1/2 C water
1 T honey or another sweetener of your choice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
 garnish with dried berries, cherries or pomegranates o a mixture of all of them
sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds
extra milk for on top if desired


Directions serves 2

1. Heat a small sauce pan on medium heat.
2. Pour in quinoa
and oil and stir and toast a couple minutes
3. Pour in milk, water, honey and cinnamon.
4. Let mixture come to a low boil. Turn down the heat to low and let cook about 20 min or until liquid is absorbed.
5. Serve into bowls and pour dried fruit and nuts on top. Pour on a little more milk if desired. Serve.
6. Store leftovers in the fridge in air tight container.

Trail Mix Bites (Protein)

Love this combination in a yummy bite. You are ready to hit the trail with these or you could just enjoy them for a great snack. They are loaded with protein too as an extra bonus. 

Ingredients

 1 cup of old fashioned oatmeal

1/4 cup of quinoa rinsed (not cooked)

3/4 cup of water

1/4 cup of coconut

1/3 cup of sunflower

1/2 cup of  dark chocolate chips 

1/3 cup of dried fruit

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of peanut butter

1/3 cup of honey

1 T coconut oil

Directions

1. Pour all the ingredients into the blender and pulse until the ingredients are broken down and all combined. 

2. Form into ball and store in air tight container in the fridge until hardened. Enjoy. 

3. Keep leftovers in airtight container in the fridge. 

Makes  12

Nuts and Oats Healthy Snack

Oh this is so yummy! I love nut chews that you get in the store. I really enjoy eating a mix of nuts. So I made my own mix with out all the additives. This tasted really good plain, but you could mix it with yogurt, cooked oatmeal, fruit, kefir and the list goes on....:)

Ingredients:
1 C mixed cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds (chopped up not too small.)
3 Brazil nuts chopped
1 T honey
1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon
2 T oatmeal
*optional 2 T ground flax or chia (I will try them next time)


Directions:

1. I chopped all the nuts in a food processor, with the oatmeal. They were still in small chunks.

2. Then pour into small pot on the stove, mix in the honey and the cinnamon. I cooked it till it started to stick together well, for a few minutes. You can decide how long you cook it depending on how hard you want it.

3. Then you can just eat as is, like granola, or press down into a pan, and then cut it up , or roll into balls. Whatever way you decide you can enjoy it!

Multi grain Bread

Today I decided to make some bread with mostly wheat flour, and a few other grains. The dough was very easy to work with, to form into loaves.

6 C. Warm water (not hot)
2/3 C Oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 C Xagave or 1 C Honey
3 T Yeast
1 T Salt
2 T Gluten (I replaced this with 1 T White Vinegar)
1 T Cinnamon (Optional)
1/4 C Unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C Flax (Ground)
1 C 6 Grain rolled oats
2 1/2 C Buckwheat Flour
11-12 1/2 C White Wheat flour

1. In bread mixer pour water, yeast, Xagave. Let sit for 10 to 15 min till starts to bubble. If it doesn't bubble your yeast is bad. (It is nice to find that out in the beginning of the process.

2. Then add the rolled oats, so they can soften in the water for 5 min. Then add the remaining ingredients, adding the wheat flour last. Add just enough wheat flour for the dough to pull away from the bowl. Be careful to not let it get too dry. The dough will still be sticky. Knead in the mixer 6-8 min. (You can knead it longer when the spelt is not in it.

3. Let sit in the bowl covered till double.

4. Oil your hands. I used olive oil. and put oil on the counter and in the pans. From into loaves let rise till double.

5. Put into preheated oven at 400. Put the bread in turn down to 325. Bake for 25-30 min. If have a thermometer, stick it in the bread in the center. It should read 180 when it is done. I rubbed butter on the top. It has a really nice texture. I really liked it.

*I made a (1) 1/2 lb loaf, (2) 2lb loaves, (1) 2 1/2 lb loaf and (5) rolls. :) Plenty to share.

Granola with a tropical twist

I enjoy trying different versions of Granola. This is a new one, I liked. It was a new twist to use the tropical fruit, and to use applesauce instead of oil. :) I loved the tropical blend I used, that had mango, blueberries and cranberries. I also used a 6 grain rolled oats, that I got from Good Earth. It added a lot of great grains. It had red and white wheat, Rye, Barley, Rolled Oats and Sunflower seeds. It tasted great!

3 C. 6 Grain rolled oats or Oatmeal
1/3 C. Applesauce (I got the flavor with cinnamon :)
1/3 C. Water
4 T. Sugar and Cinnamon Blended together
1 C. Cashew pieces
1 C. Dried Tropical blend ( I used the one with Mango, Blueberries, and Cranberries
1/2 C. Unsweetened Coconut flakes

1. Heat oven to 325

2. Mix all the ingredients together.

3. Pour onto cookie sheet. You can use parchment paper.

4. I like to clump it together a little. (I like when it sticks together while baking.) Stir every 10 min. till cooked to desired texture. I like it to be slightly crunchy. :) After it cools store in an air tight container or ziplock bag. Enjoy! :)