Tag Archives: carrot

Roasted Vegetables – more filling than you’d think!

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Do you like the smell of things baking in the oven? Do you like to eat the things baking in the oven? Do you ever wish something healthy could smell good, and then you could eat it without guilt or regret?? 😉 The other day, for lunch, I was not sure what to eat. I was needing something without any processed carbs, but not sure what to do. I knew I had a bunch of fresh vegetables and trying to think that to do with them. Then, I thought… why not oven roast them all together!!

So, I did! I cut them all up, drizzled some stuff over top, sprinkled some seasonings and voila! DELISH! I had planned on eating something a long with it to fill me up, but actually found it completely unnecessary. It was so satisfying and filling! Now, I probably did have a pretty large serving, more than most would have if used as a side dish… but it’s vegetables! Can’t go wrong!

Try this one as a side dish, or a main dish, or roast ahead of time and take bits out for a snack during the day to munch on!!!

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Makes 4 large servings or 6-8 small servings

Ingredients:

1 LARGE sweet potato – peeled and cut up into bite size pieces (about 1 inch pieces)
1 large zucchini cut into slices and then cut those in half
2-3 large carrots – peeled, rinsed and chopped
3-4 sweet mini peppers cut into large bit size pieces
1 large yellow summer squash sliced and then halved
2-3 TB extra virgin olive oil
3 TB butter (optional)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Mrs. Dash or Trader Joes 21 seasoning salute
pepper
2 TB parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)
salt to taste

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Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Chop your veggies and put onto a foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the seasonings and stir to coat evenly. Add bits of butter sporadically over the top of the veggies. Place into oven and bake for 20 minutes, and stir around. Place back into oven and bake for and additional 20 to 25 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Sprinkle cheese over top and serve! ENJOY!!!!

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And now, for the quote of the day:

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Kids Smoothie: Get some fruits and veggies in those picky eaters!!!

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So, sadly, I have picky eaters. I don’t know how. I know the technical answer is me…. but I don’t know where it started. When my oldest started eating table food, she would eat ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I put in front of her. Her first Thanksgiving? Literally ate and LOVED everything at the table. Meats, veggies, fruits, and everything in between, she’d eat and love it all. Now? She hates chicken, and most other meat unless it’s in a taco or a VERY thin hamburger. She gags on certain foods I “force” her to try (our kids have to take a no thank you serving of each food prepared). She gagged on this one dish I made, and she LOVES each of the items in the dish individually, but I guess it’s GROSS when you mix them together?!

My son is a whole other story. When he was about 2 1/2 months old, he had a persistent full body rash. I was nursing him and was advised to cut certain things out of my diet. Well, that worked! We found out he has a LOT of food allergies. Some so serious that we have to carry epi-pens every where we go. We have come close to using them on 2 separate occasions, but we are blessed that we haven’t had to so far. When you have a child with VERY severe food allergies, you become hyper vigilant. If there’s even a POSSIBILITY of cross-contamination with that allergen, you don’t chance it. It’s not because you’re crazy, it’s because your child could literally die or end up in the hospital. It’s just not worth it. So, because of that, he does not have a very big list of foods he can eat, much less like. When I get creative in the kitchen and figure out a new dish that he can eat, it takes MANY tries, and little samples before he will start to eat more than 1 lick of it. Currently his list of foods include: Perdue Simply Chicken Nuggets, ONLY the chunks that are LIGHTLY breaded, and they MUST be crunchy, otherwise they are “yucky” and will be thrown to the dog. 2: Hummus. Oh, he ADORES hummus. He can eat about 1/2 cup of it for a snack! I like to stir in some flax meal for a bit of extra protein and omega-3’s. He’ll eat it with his favorite veggies straws, pretzels, tortilla chips, crackers.. heck, he’ll even eat it with his fingers! 3: Mommy’s homemade meatballs. Now, I am being specific here. He USED to also like the ones at Jason’s Deli (he can actually eat them!), but he’s changed his mind. Now they are gross. Also, if he eats mommy’s meatballs too many days in a row, they also become gross. 4: Cereal. He especially loves cheerios, but he really loves cereal with milk. 4: toast with bacon. This is the staple of our mornings. If we do not have Trader Joe’s organic oatmeal bread… it’s a horrible tragedy. It’s a REQUIREMENT for our mornings. We also have TJ no nitrites or nitrates added (these 2 ingredients give him hives… lovely right?) pre-cooked bacon. EVERY SINGLE MORNING. When we went to Disney, we did not get a meal plan with breakfast. It wasn’t needed, I knew all they’d want was toast and bacon. Even if pancakes and waffles were an option, NOPE, just toast and bacon. 5: Sunflower seed butter and Jelly sandwich. A friend of mine clued me in on this wonderful thing called Sunflower Seed butter. It’s literally the only “nut/seed” butter that my son can have, and he really loves it! Thank goodness! I buy mine at Publix or Trader Joes, and it’s a great alternative to PB that we can keep in the house. Of course it does have to go on a very lightly toasted bread. If it is too toasted, it does not taste good as a sandwich, it is toast, and shouldn’t have sunflower seed butter on it. If it isn’t toasted enough it sticks to the roof of his mouth and is also declared “yucky”. 6: Mommy’s baked goods. Mommy  knows these are safe, and tries to make some frequently. Especially banana bread and pumpkin bread. FAVORITES! 7: Waffles. Yup, Trader Joes has some that are acceptable, otherwise Mommy has a great batter that’s safe. 8: We’re working on others. Not a large list, but I’m really trying to get him to try new things. We’re working on daddy’s favorite, tacos, but…. we’re only to 3 small bites and then a “All Done”. So… we’ll get there.

Because of these 2 paragraphs, I have to try really hard to get veggies and fruits in them. It’s insane. I can get them to each take their no thank you bites of their fruits and veggies, and eat their vitamins and probiotics… but I know they need MORE. So, I try to make a smoothie for them! They’ve had one that they really like the past 2 days, so here’s the recipe:

1 ripe banana (mine was frozen. When mine get over ripe, I peel them and place them in a baggie in my freezer for banana bread or smoothies.)
1/4 avocado – also frozen- leftover avocado sliced and frozen for smoothies
10 leaves baby spinach
1/4 apple cored with PEEL ON
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup sorbet of your choice (I used raspberry)
2 baby carrots
1/2 cup water added (or apple juice, up to you)

I blend mine in my Nutri-bullet because it gets really smooth. You don’t want it chunky for your little ones… they won’t like the texture. But when I make this… they LOVE it! They each drank everything I gave them along with their dinner!

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The kids with their smoothies 🙂 (Yes, that is a helmet on the table outside the window! lol) And my son is wearing a fake fur hat… it’s adorable!

And now, for the quote of the day:

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Chicken and Veggie Curry with Fresh Herbs Over Coconut Cilantro Rice

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So, it’s been a long day… and I needed something to go with zucchini… yeah… so somehow I ended up making curry! 🙂 It was delicious though!

I am NOT a spicy fan. I prefer mild curry. I want the taste without the fiery burn making my eyes water. Due to that, if you prefer a slow BURN when you eat curry, making you need to drink milk while you eat it, spice it up. If you like MILD, then leave it as is!!!

Here goes:

Coconut Cilantro Lime Rice:

1 cup bismati rice
1 can light coconut milk (I use Trader Joes organic)
2 TB chopped cilantro
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put the 1 cup of rice into a mesh strainer and rinse until the water runs clear. Then, put into a rice cooker (or pot). Then add the coconut milk and salt and pepper. If in rice cooker, just hit cook. It will pop up when done. If in pot, stir and bring to boil, then put on low and put lid on. Let simmer for 20 minutes…. don’t remove the lid!

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Chicken and Veggie Curry:

6 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, diced
1/2 onion diced fine
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or similar)
1 tsp thai red curry paste (orig. recipe called for 3 tablespoons… if you like it spicy… go ahead!)
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 can light organic coconut milk
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
6 leaves fresh basil, chopped
1 carrot
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
fresh naan , for serving
  1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Once hot, add the diced chicken and onions and saute the chicken until browned all over and cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on a plate.
  2. Add another tablespoon coconut oil to the skillet. Add the red peppers, garlic, carrot and corn, saute 3-4 minutes and then toss in the zucchini, ginger and garlic. Saute the veggies another 5 minutes or until they just begin to soften. Add the chicken back to the skillet and toss everything together.
  3. To the skillet add the curry powder and curry paste and give everything another good toss. Cook 1 minute and then add the coconut milk and soy sauce. Stir to combine, bring the mixture to a boil, cook 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil and cilantro.
  4. Serve the curry over the rice. Add a spoonful of the mangos and a sprinkle of feta cheese. Eat with Naan!

 

Enjoy!!!

And, for the “Quote of the Day”:
from the Hymn Abide With Me, words by Henry Lyte

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