~Yummy One Pot Meal~Sausage and Spinach Pasta~Make Gluten Free or Not~

Sausage, Spinach and Quinoa Pasta 

One package of sausage {I used Applegate Organics italian chicken-turkey sausage}
1/2 onion, diced {Optional}
1 cup sliced mushrooms {optional, I love mushrooms}
1 can 13-14oz diced or stewed tomatoes {I used Muir Glen
organic diced}
1 1/2 cups chicken stock {I used homemade}{Click here for homemade chicken stock recipe}
8oz package Quinoa Pasta {I used Ancient Harvest Organics} OR{ for regular you can use 1/2 package of egg noodles}
3 cups of fresh spinach {I used Earthbound Farm Organics}
1 cup of fresh grated Parmesan cheese


Start by cutting up the sausage into slices. Then put sausage in pot and brown, add onions and mushrooms, then when the mushrooms shrink and onions are cooked add in the tomatoes, chicken broth, and uncooked quinoa pasta OR uncooked egg noodles. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Lastly add spinach making to stir in well. Let cook about 10 more minutes.

Grate your fresh Parmesan and sprinkle over the top before serving. Let melt a bit and then serve!

~This post was inspired by Wholesome Mommy and her blog, She has a similar recipe, I just tweaked it to my liking, which you can do too!~

~Easy Homemade Chicken Broth~

The health that is in chicken broth is amazing, that is why I learned how to make my own. I attached this GREAT article on the healing effects of bone broth from Dr. Mercola's website. Its a great read and very informative. I would encourage you to read it if you are really serious about learning to make your own chicken broth, it will get you excited about making it! Also, Dr. Mercola has an even BETTER recipe and way of making broth, although its more time consuming. {NOTE}I'm just trying to help moms out who need quick, easy recipes for their family, but if you have more time then I would suggest trying his method.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/16/bone-broth-benefits.aspx

You can use your chicken broth to make soups, boil noodles in, make rice with, or quinoa.

Just about every week when I'm planning my meals I use chicken meat. BUT instead of buying chicken breasts, I usually purchase the whole chicken. Its ALWAYS cheaper and I can get two meals out of one chicken. So for example I will make chicken soup with some meat and a stir fry with the leftover meat.

EASY Homemade Chicken Broth

Crock pot {If you don't have a crock pot, you can do this in a large pot on the stove, put in water and chicken and bring to boil, then set to low and let simmer uncovered for about 4 hours, add more water after 2 hours if its getting low}
1 whole free range chicken, thawed
water

Place you whole chicken in the crock pot, fill with water about 1/2-3/4 full. Turn crock pot on for most convenient time for you. If your gonna be home set for 4 hours, if your going to work all day set for 10 hrs.

When chicken is all done, let it cool. Then pull chicken out. Use strainer to strain broth for unwanted bones or meat pieces. Strain broth and pour into a container until ready for use. You can freeze your broth or place it in the freezer if you know you will be using it that week.

You can store your broth in many ways, glass jars, tuberware, or even plastic ziplocs if thats all you have on hand. It takes time to build up a kitchen with gadgets, so use what you have until you can buy what you'd like :)

{Additional}

After you have picked all the meat off, place the remaining bones in a pot full of water and simmer for anywhere from 20-60 minutes. Whatever time you have. The longer you simmer the more health in your broth. Then strain out bones, use for chicken soup immediately and just add veggies and meat OR store in container until you use.

{Note}

Since this is homemade broth it will harden and become gel-like if stored or leftovers are placed in fridge. This is okay and normal, once its warmed it will return to its liquid state. :)



 

Yummy Moist Banana Bread! Use Wheat or Make Gluten Free

Yummy Moist Banana Bread

2-3 Bananas
1/2 c sugar OR stevia OR 1/2 c of Honey
1/2 stick butter {I use Full Circle Organic} OR sub for coconut oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp vanilla {The REAL stuff, not imitation}
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 c Whole wheat flour/white flour OR Gluten Free Flour {If using Gluten Free Flour, remember to add Xanthan Gum}

Optional Additions:
1/2 bag of REAL Chocolate Chips such as Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips
1 cup Walnuts or Pecans {Check ingredient list for added ingredients, such as maltodrexin, salt, sugar}Try to get plain, raw nuts

Topping
Brown sugar OR Coconut sugar sprinkled over the top before baking.

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Mash up your bananas, but do over mash :), add sugar{OR sugar sub}, add cooled melted butter{OR coconut oil}, and 2 eggs. Add cinnamon and vanilla. MIX!

Next add baking soda, and flour. Mix it up.

Grease baking dish or cupcake pan.

Add your batter and then sprinkle with brown sugar OR{Coconut sugar}.

For cupcakes bake about 20 minutes.
For pan bake about 50 minutes.

Use a toothpick to check about 10 minutes before timer goes off. Everybodys oven is a touch different.

 

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead - Trailer

 

Seeds Of Death - Full Movie

Food Inc - Official Trailer [HD]

~BEST Homemade Healthy Fruit Jelly EVER!!~

So recently I wrote about high fructose corn syrup and how it is in EVERYTHING including most jellies. Before I found this recipe I was buying jelly from the farmers market and from Woodmans, a local store that carries Wisconsin based foods. The ingredients contained only real sugar, but now since starting my science based nutrition program I'm also trying to cut sugars where ever I can. So here is a great recipe for homemade jam.

You can always change the amounts to sweeten more or less, or to make more. I started out with a small batch but plan on making more. With three kids we do and will go through many PB &J's :)

Homemade Fruit Jelly

1cup frozen raspberries, or mixed berries or whatever berry you like
1-2 TBSP Honey
 2 tbsp of chia seeds

Either you can let your frozen fruit sit out for a few hours until its thawed and ready to be mashed or you can throw it in a pot and cook on low heat until it thawed and soft. I prefer to let it just sit out because then I'm not killing any nutrients by cooking it and you can say its a RAW food :)

Once fruit is thawed, use a fork and mash it up until its mostly chunk free, but a few fruity chunks are fine.

Add 1-2 TBSP of honey and mix. I would start with one TBSP and taste test. Then add to your liking.
Finally add 2 TBSP of chia seeds and mix. Wait about 5-10 minutes and the chia seeds will have expanded into gel like pieces which really makes this like Jelly.

Store in an cleaned used jelly jar. I used my store bought Jelly jar, and cleaned it out after i used it all and put my new Healthy Homemade Fruit Jelly in it.

Berries have tons of antioxidants, chia seeds are a great source of healthy fat and protein, and honey is a great natural sweetener. The vitamins present in honey are B6, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and certain amino acids. The minerals found in honey include calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc. Honey also has a low glycemic index which is helpful to those with diabetes.

Here are some links on the nutrition of berries, chia seeds, and honey:

http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/lindsey-duncan-nd-cn/chia-ancient-super-secret
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-nutrition.html
http://www.driscolls.com/nutrition-health/berry-nutrition-facts