Lemon Chia Parfait

I have always loved lemon yogurt and have struggled with buying it because it has so much added sugar and additives. So I made my own homemade lemon parfait. It was so amazing smelling the lemon zest. I love that smell it almost as good as the food. The real lemon juice adds a nice flavor to it too. This was a winner.

Ingredients

1 C plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
1 T chia
1 tsp honey or more for sweeter version
garnish 
with lemon zest

Directions      serves 1

1. Put yogurt into the bowl and stir in juice, zest, chia and honey until creamy.
2. Garnish with more lemon zest and enjoy.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Shrimp Pasta

This combination tasted so yummy. I am a big fan of roasted butternut squash and shrimp so that made it even better. I am always looking for new ways to eat fish and this option is a great one. The fresh green beans were a nice addition to add great color to the plate.

Ingredients:
1 Butternut squash (skin peeled and chopped in cubes)
2T oil
1 to 2 tsp salt
2 to 3 tsp oil
1 onion minced
5 cloves of garlic minced
2 T of fresh or dried thyme and marjoram minced* optional
1 red pepper minced
2 C water
1 T of Cornstarch or Ultra Gel * optional To thicken
lemon juice from 2 lemons*
12-16 oz of shrimp peeled cooked and deveined
salt and pepper to taste
12 oz pkg of cooked linguine pasta
parsley fresh or dried for garnish if desired
served with fresh cooked green beans

Directions:
1. Put cut up squash in a bowl toss in oil and make sure it gets all covered. Place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 30 min or until cooked all the way through. You can toss the salt on at the end or in the beginning prior to cooking it. Turn the squash once or twice in the cooking process.

2. In the meantime put the oil in a frying pan and heat on med heat. pour in the onions and let cook a couple minutes. Then stir in the garlic, herbs and red pepper. Let cook together 3 to 5 min.

3. Stir in the water and let cook on low about 8-10 min. You can add thickener at the end to thicken it up.

4. Take off the heat stir in the lemon juice and shrimp and put lid back on the pan. Let the shrimp heat all the way through.

5. Cook pasta in boiling water if you haven't already cooked it. Drain.

6. Take the lid off the shrimp mixture and toss in the roasted squash. Serve some pasta on your plate and serve some shrimp mixture on top. Garnish with parsley if desired.

* I found a new trick to juice a lemon. Roll the lemon on the counter. Toss the lemon in the microwave for 20 to 30 sec. and take out and squeeze. It makes it easy to juice.          

Citrus Popcorn (healthy)

Citrus Popcorn

Here is the zest combination we used!

This was a fun popcorn. I love citrus smells and flavors, and colors. I love having a bowl of fresh citrus on my counter. It breaths life into me just looking at it. :) It is probably the influence of my California blood. (I am sure you don't need to be from California to enjoy it.) When I went back to Calififornia a couple weeks ago I saw a lot of lemon trees over flowing with lemons. I wanted to go and pick them and bring them home. I know I took them for granted when I lived there. We did make some fresh lemonade while we were there and it was the best lemonade I have ever had. :) I miss having citrus trees in our yard. It is wonderful I can still enjoy buying them, and taking in the smells, flavors, and colors. :)

We found with this popcorn flavor it is best to add a little bit of zest at a time. You can see how you like it you can always add more.

Ingredients:
4 C popped popcorn (We used the air popper)
2 T coconut Oil (melted)
1 T fresh orange juice
1/2 T fresh lime juice
1/2 T lemon juice
1 T of a combination of lemon, lime, and orange zest
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. In a bowl pour in popcorn. In a separate small bowl stir together the juice and the oil.

2. Toss the coconut mixture onto the the popcorn. Then toss on the zest and the salt. You can add more zest according to your taste preference. Enjoy immediately! It is a great way to bring Spring into your day.

Blackberry Lemon Almond Torte

It's Recipe Redux time again! And this month we have all created healthy frozen desserts. You can find the links to the other participating blogs at the end of this post.

This was a yummy dessert. It had a nice combination of the sweet and the tart combined--an almond, whole-grain crust; always-yummy blackberry filling; and a tart, rich, and creamy lemon layer made from homemade lemon curd.


Ingredients

Almond Crust:
1 1/4 C whole grain flour (I used kamut)
1/2 C almonds
2 T honey
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 C coconut oil or 1/2 C butter
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 T about ice water
11" tart pan with removable bottom
non stick cooking spray

Filling:
1/4 C water
5 egg yolks
4 T honey
1 1/2 C almond milk or plain milk
1/2 C honey
lemon zest from 4 lemons
1/2 C lemon juice
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 C whip cream
1 /2 C frozen Marion berries or boysenberries or blackberries
1 T water
2 T powdered sugar or honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 to 1 C whip cream and berries to garnish on top


Directions

1. For the crust: Grind up almonds in blender or food processor. Add the flour and combine by blending in the blender.

2. Pour into a bowl. Mix in the honey and salt. Cut the oil into the nut mixture. Add the water. Stir until nicely moistened.

3. Grease tart pan well. Press the crust into the pan. You can bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees first, or just put into the freezer to harden while you make the filling.

4. For the filling: Beat the water, egg yolks, honey, and milk together. Stir on low heat till nicely thickened. Then take off the heat and stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and almond extract.

This is what the lemon curd should look like.

5. Let lemon curd mixture cool. Beat whipping cream with sweetener and vanilla. Fold into cooled filling.

6. In a blender blend the berries with 1 T water. Take the the crust out of the freezer and spread a thin layer of berries over the bottom of the crust.

Spreading the berries evenly over the crust. It helps if they are still a little frozen so they don't blend into the filling.

7. Gently pour in the filling. Being careful not to disrupt the berries on the bottom. Spread evenly on the crust.

8. Freeze at least 3 hours, or until it is completely hardened.

9. Take out of the freezer and cut into slices. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and a couple berries. Serve. Store leftovers in the freezer.



Here are the other awesome posts this month:

Emma Stirling - The Scoop on Nutrition
Greek Yogurt Pavlova Popsicles

Cherie Schetselaar - Grain Crazy
Blackberry Lemon Almond Torte

Emma Cutfield-The Hearty Heart
Coconut Ice, Blueberry and Cocoa, Joint Healing Dessert

Carlene Helble- Carlene's Figments
Peanut Butter Banana 'Ice Cream' Sandwich

Janel Funk - Eat Well with Janel
Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream

Kat Lynch - Eating The Week
Coconut Chia-Seed Fruit Pops

Dr Barb, Nutrition Budgeteer
Simply Fruit Mango-Pineapple Sorbet

Rebecca Scritchfield - MeFirst
5-minute Frozen Peach Pie

gretchen - kumquat
chocolate "ice cream" bars

Emily Greenfield - The Nutriscientist
Honey and strawberry semifreddo

Liz Marr - Liz On Food
Peach Lavender Ice Cream

Elizabeth Jarrard- Don't (White) Sugar-Coat It
Adult Popsicles: Frozen Boozy Treats

Regan - The Professional Palate
Frozen Samoa Pie

Liz Weiss & Janice Newell Bissex - Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen
Healthy Blueberry and Mango Snow Cones

Jessica Fishman Levinson - Nutritioulicious
Watermelon Sorbet

Alexandra Caspero- Delicious Knowledge
Mango & Coconut Popsicles

Karman Meyer- Nutrition Adventures
Coconut Ice Cream with Strawberry Puree

Yuri - Chef Pandita
Acerola Chia Lime Popsicles

Kristen Bourque- Swanky Dietitian
Peanut Butter Coffee Popsicles

EA Stewart-The Spicy RD
Luscious Lemonade Pie

Danielle Omar - Food Confidence RD
Banana Soft Serve

Katie Caputo- East Meats West
Auntie Rosie's Ice Cream Pie

Alysa Bajenaru - Inspired RD
Coffee Granita

Kara Lydon - Peace, Love, and Food
Peanut Butter Banana "Ice Cream" With Dark Chocolate

Serena Ball- Teaspoon of Spice
Splendid Key Lime Frozen Yogurt

Nicole Ferring Holovach - Whole Health RD
Peaches and Rum Ice Cream Pie

Lisa @ Healthful Sense
Peanut Butter Vanilla Soft Serve

Jackie Mills - Delicious Diabetes Cooking
Summer Fruit Popsicles

Audra Losey - Nutrition Know How
Mocha Pops

Kristina LaRue - Love and Zest
Frozen Berry Yogurt

Stephanie Howard - Give them Something Better
Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

Sweet and Sour Chicken and Brown Rice

I took dinner to a friend. It is always hard to know what to make. I decided on this. It is always nice when it goes over well with my family. I feel like there is a good chance the family I took it to, will like it as well. I hope so! :) I am a big fan of sweet and sour. How about you?

Ingredients:

Brown Rice cooked
(I used the pressure cooker. I put 2 cloves of garlic, 2 T fresh marjoram, 2 1 /2 C Brown Rice, 5 C water, 1 T lavender mix. Cooked it for 20 min and let it cool down for 10 min. perfect! Added salt and pepper at the end. You can cook it in a Rice cooker, or how ever works best for you! ) *optional you could add a finely chopped onion.

1 1/2 to 2 lbs chicken tenders (They are on sale this week at Sunflower Market $1.99 lb)
1/2 C soy sauce (I am going to try to cut the soy sauce down to 1/3 C nest time)
1 to 1 1/2 C water
3 to 4 T lemon juice
1/4 to 1/3 C honey
4 fresh basil leaves dried basil 1 tsp
3 to 4 garlic cloves minced
1 T fresh ginger 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp thyme
1 onion chopped up fine
1 leek cut in small pieces
1 orange pepper chopped in small pieces

1. While the rice is cooking. I put the chicken in the pan to cook. You could put in a little water. Maybe a 1/4 C put on the lid. Let it cook a few minutes.

2. Then take off the lid and add the remaining ingredients, Stir it all,till its all combined. I then put the lid back on and let it cook on med to low for about 30 min. Letting all the flavors combine. I then used a pair of kitchen shears and cut the chicken into small pieces.

3. Then I mixed the mixture with the cooked rice. I didn't even have to add any thickener. It combined well and was a nice texture. Salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy

*You could add some other colored peppers to make it more colorful. :)
* You could also not mix them and just pour the chicken mixture over the rice.
*This was so good for lunch the next day! =)