Nature Valley Granola Protien

My first concern was my Protien intake. I know a lot of veggies contain Protien but I don't like cold veggies much and lately I have been too lazy to cook meals so I picked up a package of Nature Valley Protien Granola. 

This contains milk so it is vegetarian not vegan. It contains 10g of Protien for every 1/2 cup. I ate mine in a cantaloupe bowl. :) First of all if you love chocolate and you love peanut butter this is a no brainier, forget the added Protien. It was absolutely delicious! The peanut butter flavor really stands out but doesn't overwhelm this granola. It's also very  filling - I'm a fan!

Vegetarian and Vegan Reviews

So I have in the past few months decided for ethical and health reasons to eat a vegetarian diet.  For the same reasons I will try to eat as close to vegan as possible. I have cooked some meals and plan on sharing recipes. For me I am in an experimentation period and personally, the one thing I have enjoyed reading are product reviews on vegetarian and vegan products to help me make my mind up on what I want to try and also so I do not waste money on expensive products that's are just horrible. I have also found some products through blogs that I am sure I would never had heard of otherwise unless I stumbled across them.  I plan on writing reviews of every new product I try. After that I will post some recipes :)

Almond Milk Shake

Ok, so it's time to get back on the Paleo horse so to speak...I went way off diet for Christmas and New Years. Now, I'm slowly easing myself back into it...IE I have some leftovers I need to finish and then I will be back to almost full paleo. I found out about Steve's Paleo Goods recently online and ordered some of their products. So far I really like what I've tried. I'm planning on writing a review when I've sampled everything. I'm eating their apple pie paleo krunch this morning with a chocolate almond milk shake I made.

Ingredients in the shake:

-almond milk (I always fill a glass with almond milk and pour it in the blender so I don't know exact amount)

-2 teaspoons of almond butter

-1/2 teaspoon honey

-1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

- 1 teaspoon of coconut palm sugar

- 1/2 cup of ice

Blend in a blender until smooth.

I also added golden flax seeds and a herbal calcium supplement. I will grind the flax seeds before adding next time. I do like this shake as is but next time I plan on adding some berries or a piece of a banana...or avacado, I bet that would be good. This was my first time using palm sugar and I really like the taste! 

Brian's Breakfast Casserole

I had something at my home this year both for New Years Eve and New Years Day.  NYD I made a brunch and I knew I wanted something extra delicious so I asked my friend Brian for his breakfast casserole recipe that he had made me several times.   My thinking was that there would be plenty of time for resolutions on the 2nd :)  I did change his recipe up a little so I will post his recipe and mine below.  This recipe looks a little challenging as there are several steps and prep work needed.  It wasn't actually that much work and it was well worth it.

Brian's Recipe:
- 1 box/bag of croutons (he has used stuffing mix when he made it for me in the past)
-2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
-4 eggs
-3/4 tsp dry mustard
-3 cups milk (reserve 1/2 cup for soup)
-2 lbs roll sausage
-1 can cream of mushroom soup

The Night Before:
1. Brown Sausage (like hamburger)  - drain well on paper towel
2. Place croutons on bottom of greased casserole dish
3. Top with cheese
4. Place browned sausage on top of cheese
5. Mix eggs, dry mustard, and 2 1/2 cups milk and pour over top of croutons, cheese and sausage mixture in the casserole dish.
6. Refrigerate overnight covered (Also may be frozen for future use)

Day of Use:
1. Combine can of cream of mushroom soup with 1/2 cup milk and pour over top of casserole.
2. Bake at 300 degrees uncovered for 1.5 hours

This is what I did differently:
- I only used half a bag of stuffing (which was really just plain croutons) as there were  A LOT in the bag I bought
- I like sausage but I don't like to be overwhelmed by it so I only used 1 pound of sausage and I used ground sausage meat to make it easier
- I used 6 eggs instead of 4
-the next morning when I woke up I noticed that the croutons didn't seem wet enough so poured another 1/2 cup of milk on the casserole.
- I baked it for 1.5 hours but the mushroom soup was still not browned at all...I left it in the over for maybe another 10 minutes until the soup mixture was more browned and then took the casserole out.

I made two of these and they were gone in minutes!  Super delicious and unfortunately not something I can eat everyday.  This has a real southern taste to it.  A lot of people mentioned that it reminded them of sausage and gravy biscuits.

Chicken Quesadilla Dip

One of my favorite and not so healthy meals is chicken quesadillas.  For some reason I have never posted the recipe online.  I recently decided to make just the filling of the quesadillas as a dip for New Years Eve and it came out great!  No leftovers unfortunately though :(

Ingredients:
-1 can of salsa (I use medium usually)
-1 bag of shredded Mexican cheese
-1 pound shredded cooked chicken (white meat)
-1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder depending on taste
-2 to 3 teaspoons fresh chopped cilantro depending on taste
-1/2 cup mayo

The mayo in this recipe really tones down the spiciness of the dish so if you like your food a little spicy don't be too nervous that you will add too much.  On the other hand, if you feel you added too much chili powder you can add more mayo to tone the flavor down.

Preheat over to 400 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl and spoon into an over safe casserole dish when combined.  Bake at 400 for approximately 10 minutes or until dip is bubbly.  Serve with tortilla chips.

If you would like quesadillas instead of dip - spoon this mixture into soft tortillas that have been buttered on the outside.  Arrange in a casserole dish and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees or until tortillas begin to brown. 

Jonathan's Champagne Punch

Happy New Year everyone!  I had a new year's day brunch at my house.  My friend Jonathan said he googled "champagne punch" and got a recipe online.  We didn't have the exact ingredients so ours was a little different.  It tasted amazing!  And also VERY sweet!

- one bottle of Riesling - perhaps a dry white wine would be better
- one bottle of dry champagne
-one can of frozen concentrated cranberry juice
-one can of frozen concentrated pink lemonade
-half a can of frozen concentrated limeade
-one bottle of seltzer
- one lime cut up
- one clamshell of raspberries
-a large bowl
- something to serve the punch with

This has got to be the easiest recipe I have ever posted: open all wine, champagne, seltzer and juice and pour into bowl.  Wash raspberries and add.  Cut up lime slices and add.

Enjoy!!!!

Vegetarian Empanadas

I have to admit that I have a bit of an addiction to green peas and lima beans...I try to include them in everything...my favorite is green peas and mac and cheese!  I also do really like eating meat and chicken but have guilt for ethical reasons about eating meat so I usually end up going through several month spurts of eating vegetarian...this recipe was made during one these vegetarian spurts.

 

 

Ingredients:

- package of store bought dough (I used packaged pie crust)

- 1 package of spinach

- 1 cup of green peas

-1 cup of chopped green beans

- 1 cup of lima beans

-olive oil

- 3 garlic cloves sliced

- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning and herbs

- pinch of crushed red pepper

- pinch of salt and pepper

- optional :feta cheese

 

Directions:

-sauté spinach in olive oil and garlic

-when spinach is cooked down add lima beans, green beans and green beans

-season with salt, pepper, Italian seasonings and crushed red pepper

 

 

When filling is cooked through preheat oven to 350 and grease a casserole dish or baking pan

- cut dough into small circles and fill with veggies and feta if you wish

- crimp ends of the empanadas with a fork so that they stay closed and cut slits to vent

- bake until dough begins to brown

 

 

Enjoy :)