Easy black bean and corn salsa

I made this salsa to go along with fish tacos, but it ended up being so good on its own you could use it for vegetarian tacos or just by itself!

Ingredients:
1 can of black beans
1 can of whole corn kernels
1 small red pepper
1 jalapeno
1/2 cup of fresh, chopped cilantro
1/4 cup of lime juice
1/2 chopped red onion
1 large tomato
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of garlic powder
Salt to taste

Instructions:
1. Empty can of black beans and corn into a strainer
2. Rinse the beans and corn in the strainer for about 10 seconds or so, and let drain
3. Pour beans and corn into a large bowl
4. Dice small red pepper into small squares and add
5. Dice jalapeno into small squares, seed the jalapeno if you do not like salsa too spicy otherwise add the seeds in with it!
6. Add chopped cilantro, chopped red onion, diced tomato, cumin, garlic powder, and lime juice.
7. Mix ingredients and add salt to taste.

Lentil, sweet potato, and kale soup

This recipe turned out to be better than I expected, highly recommended! Though, I actually could have done without the sweet potato. It made the soup a little starchy and grainy. This is great for leftovers and to have for a few days. It makes about 6-8 servings.

Ingredients:
1 cup of dried brown lentils
1.5 cups of kale
1 large sweet potato, diced and peeled
4 cups of vegetable stock
3 cups of water
Salt to taste
1/4 cup of fresh lime juice
2 tomatoes, diced
2 tsp fresh, grated ginger
Shitake Mushrooms (optional)
1 large onion, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
Cilantro as a garnish
2 Tbsp of curry powder
2 tsp of all spice
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp all spice
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp garlic powder
Pepper to taste

Add spices to liking if more or less is needed.

Preparation:
1. Dice onion
2. Dice tomatoes
3. Peel, mince, and finely chop fresh ginger
4. Peel and chop sweet potato, I microwaved my diced sweet potato on a plate for 2-3 minutes to soften before putting in the soup.
5. Wash and shred kale
6. Wash and slice mushrooms

Directions:
1. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a large soup pot
2. Add diced onion into the oil, let cook for about 5-7 minutes on medium heat. Stirring occasionally.
3. Add ginger, tomatoes, and mushrooms and continue to saute for 5 minutes.
6. After the onions are translucent and the tomatoes softened, add the curry powder, all spice, salt, cinnamon, and garlic powder and continue to saute for 3 minutes.
7. Add 4 cups of vegetable stock and water to the pot
8. Add the 1 cup of dried lentils and the cubed sweet potato.
9. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes
10. Add kale, lime juice, pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste to the soup.
11. Let simmer for about 20 more minutes until sweet potato is soft and lentils are cooked.
12. Add cilantro as a garnish when soup is ready.

This recipe was modified from the one from this blog...http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2013/01/vegan-sweet-potato-and-lentil-soup.html

Healthy Pina Colada Smoothie

This was a delicious smoothie, thanks in part to a very fresh pineapple :-)

Ingredients:
1 large, ripe banana
1 cup of fresh pineapple (You could use frozen but I think the fresh makes this smoothie taste better, video posted below on how to pick and cut a fresh pineapple.)
1 cup of fat free, plain greek yogurt
2 cups of organic Silk unsweetened soy milk (creamier than regular milk so I prefer it)
1 cup of crushed ice
1 tbsp of coconut oil

Directions:
1. Place all ingredients into a blender.
2. Blend and enjoy!

How to choose and pick a pineapple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJJ-iQkbRNE

30 minute Chicken Chili loaded Sweet Potato

This recipe was awesome and was better with a sweet potato rather than a regular potato. One of my favorite healthy recipes I've made so far. This is my own recipe but was inspired by the pinterest link on the bottom of the page.

Ingredients:

Chicken Chili-Makes 5 1-cup servings

1 lb of ground chicken 

1 can of kidney beans

2 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes, preferably organic

1 small can of tomato paste (I recommend whole foods 365 organic tomato paste. It was delicious and really added good flavor over other tomato pastes I've tried)

1 whole jalapeno, diced

1 onion

1-2 tbsp of  dried chipotle pepper flakes

1 tsp of oil (I used coconut)

salt to taste 

1 large sweet potato (per person) 

Instructions: 

Sweet potato:

1. While cooking chili, pierce sweet potato with a fork in multiple places, wrap in paper towel, and put in microwave on baked potato setting or microwave for at least 10 minutes until the entire sweet potato is soft to the touch.

Chicken Chili:

1. Add 1 tsp of oil into a large pot 

2. Add 1 lb of ground chicken and begin sauteeing on medium heat

3. Dice and chop onion and jalapeno and add into sauteeing chicken 

4. Add chipotle flakes

5. Saute chicken, onions, and jalapeno until chicken is no longer pink. (About 10-15 minutes)

6. Drain and rinse kidney beans and add them to the chili, along with diced tomatoes, and tomato paste.

7. Add salt to taste.

8. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes

Open sweet potato and cut slits into the potato. Pour 1 cup of chicken chili on top of the sweet potato. Enjoy!

http://pinterest.com/pin/270075308876104903/

"Skinny" Spaghetti

I found this recipe on pinterest from The Londoner blog.

 http://www.thelondoner.me/2012/04/skinny-spaghetti.html

 It is my favorite pasta alternative I have found so far. If you like cabbage rolls, you will love this!

1 small head of green or white cabbage
1 chopped onion
1 tbsp of garlic or one chopped garlic clove
1 jar of marinara sauce (You can also use tomato sauce and tomato paste to make a lower calorie sauce if you like. Add salt and italian spices to that with no oil to bring calories down.)
1 lb of ground bison, beef, or turkey (I used ground bison meat because of preference)
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Begin sauteing the ground meat, no oil needed as you can cook it in it's own fat.
2. After sauteing for a few minutes add in 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped glove of garlic
3. Saute both meat and onions until meat is browned
4. Once meat is browned, pour in jar of marinara sauce or tomato sauce and tomato paste into pot. Stir.
5. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. You can add 1/4 cup or so of red wine if you're feeling frisky.
6. Let the sauce come to a slow boil, cover, and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
7. While sauce is cookiner, wash and slice the cabbage head into thin strips (should slightly resemble pasta)
8. Steam the cabbage for 5-7 minutes. You do not want it to be soggy, you want it to still be slightly crisp.
9. If you do not have a steamer pot, put cabbage in a hot pan with 1/2 cup of water and some salt. Cover and let steam for 5-7 minutes.
10. Drain cabbage
11. Pour meat sauce over drained cabbage and sprinkle with grated parmesan (optional)

Pumpkin Smoothie Recipe!

Pumpkin Smoothie Recipe
1/3 cup of organic canned pumpkin
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
2 very ripe bananas
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of vanilla
Crushed ice

...and blend!

This recipe has a 300 calories and 13 g of fiber! To add some protein to it you could always add a no sugar added vanilla protein powder to it.

Vegetable Stuffed Acorn Squash

This recipe was inspired from chooseveg.com but I made a couple of changes to their recipe. This was delicious! I highly recommend it, you could eat the stuffing as is or put it in a butternut squash as well.

2 to 3 stalks of celery, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, or grass fed butter
Fennel seed to taste (this helps make it taste like sausagey)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 acorn squash
2 cups of cooked brown rice or quinoa, or a mix of the two
1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
3/4 cup of crushed pecans

1. Cook the rice prior which is always 2 cups of water or broth to 1 cup of rice.
2. Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the middle parts.
3. Place the acorn squash open side down on a foil lined baking sheet at 375 degrees for 30 minutes
4. While that is cooking, saute onions and celery in healthy cooking fat until translucent.
5. Add salt, pepper, and fennel to taste while sauteeing.
6. Once veggies are translucent, turn off the burner and mix in rice, sun dried tomatoes, dried cranberries, and crushed pecans. Mix well.
7. When 30 minutes is up, take the squash out of the oven and spoon out a little bit more of the center.
8. Add as much stuffing as you like into the middle of the squash.
9. Keep squash open side up this time and cover squash with tin foil and put back 375 degree oven for another 30 minutes.

If you want to be extra awesome, keep the acorn squash seeds from cleaning out the acorn squash...cavity...and rinse the gook off of them and then dry them. You can made them sweet or salty and spicy, but use about a tbsp or so of butter or olive oil and toss them in it. Add whatever spices you like, I prefer cinnamon, a little bit of brown sugar, and nutmeg. Then roast them in the oven for a healthy snack or dessert kind of thing. Roast them at 215 degrees for 20 minutes on a foil lined baking sheet.

Source: http://www.chooseveg.com/stuffed-acorn-squash.asp