Farmers Markets!!!!

Want locally grown veggies that are usually organic? Check out your local farmers markets!! This is a really cheap way to get a TON of veggies! And don't be intimidated by the long stalls, take an hour to explore! You might be surprised at what you find.

Today I stopped by the one that is just down the street from my house. If you are on my side of town it is right off Airline before 610. There are two different aspects to this market. When you first pull up there is the store front Canino's! Which I love and hit today! It is easy, has big fans and I usually find everything I want. Today I got my weeks worth of veggies for 26.56!!! So cheap. Now I am cutting out a lot of the fruit in my diet and that helps keep the cost down. But still if I had bought at Whole Foods that would have been a cool $50-$60 and that would have just been my veggies. I did not find any Kale (boo) and the spinach looked a little wilted so I will probably pick those up when I go get my meat! (that I still get at Whole Foods..yum)
The second part of this farmers market is behind Canino's in the three long lines of stalls. For this you would probably want to bring a canvas bag of some kind and CASH. Brush up on your spanish and get ready to haggle a bit. You can get baskets of veggies for $2!! I can easily walk out of there with all the veggies I need and then some and only have spent $15! Make sure you walk around and look they have a lot more then just produce. They have spices, plants, beans...anyway. Just know most of the farmers don't use pesticides on their produce so they tend to go bad QUICK! So plan accordingly.
Go check it out...

On the menu this week is Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs with Marinara sauce, Citrus Chicken (a whole chicken) and an attempt at Jicama Enchiladas! We will see how that last one goes. In the oven now are the meatballs and spaghetti squash with sliced eggplant that I LOVE roasted!
MEATBALLS:
1 lbs ground beef
1/2 red pepper chopped
1/2 yellow onion chopped
2 mushrooms chopped
1 tbsp of dried parsley, oregano, basil, thyme and garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
mix it all up, spray a glass pan and pop in the oven cook until they are done all the way through..half an hour?
SPAGHETTI SQUASH
puncture the outside with fork all the way around, microwave depending on size about 5-8 min let cool slice open- place cut side down in a baking dish with 1 inch of water and cook until you can puncture the skin easily with a fork. 20 min
season with same spices in the meatballs serve under the meat balls with Marinara of your choice! YUM!!
EASY!
Enjoy!

Getting Back on this Blogging Train!!

So it has been a LONNNNNGGGG while since I have done this. I struggled for a long time about what to write about. Then it was when do I find the time to write. And I want to write about something that I like, but will help others, and is not all about me! Hmmmm....so looking back at my last post I think I had the right idea. FOOD! Healthy food!

So I am going to rededicate this page to recipes, shopping tips, meal planning and other helpful information that comes my way to share with those you might stumble back on this! So here goes nothen!!

Last Weekend was going to be a little busy so I needed to make sure that I had some healthy options in the fridge. Cause lets face it, the weekends are the hardest time to keep it clean. Especially when you go, go, GO..and the next thing you know you are STARVING...and everything in your fridge is green and raw!! You mean I have to cook..Hell no, calling Pinks! (Its a pizza place up here ...so yummy) So I took a different approach and pre-made my breakfast and lunches and a few snacks. I had dinner plans for both Friday and Sunday, so did not worry about dinners.

So I made a quick version of my sweet potato cradles for breakfast and paleo chili rellenos for lunch. Cut up fresh fruit and berries to have on hand and carrots and tomatoes for snacks. I also had some Applegate cold cut meats for snacks. http://www.applegate.com/. Then I grilled some veggies and made a cauliflower salad to go with my meals and for a snack. I also cooked a little chicken to use for my post workout protein! All in all it worked out really well. So when Sunday night rolled around for our Restaurant Week night out I did not feel guilty and enjoyed myself.

 

 So here are the recipes: ENJOY!!
Egg Cradles ( only I skipped the muffin pan and made it in a casserole dish-easy clean up)

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and grated

1/4 cup grass fed organic butter or coconut oil

Sea salt to taste

12 eggs

2oz prosciutto

Diced chives for garnish

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix the grated sweet potatoes with the melted butter or coconut oil and with a bit of sea salt.  Grease a muffin tin with a little more butter or coconut oil. Using your hands, press the grated sweet potatoes into each muffin cup making sure the bottom and sides of each cup are covered with grated sweet potato, press down firmly when you are covering putting in the sweet potatoes to create a little potato basket.  Bake the sweet potatoes for 25-30 minutes.  Remove and crack an egg into each muffin cup, top each egg with a sprinkle of diced prosciutto and bake for another 10 minutes or until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still runny.  Use a butter knife to gently remove the egg cradles. Garnish the top of each with diced chives. Makes 12 egg cradles.

Paleo Chili Rellenos

3 chili Relleno peppers 

1 pound gr. beef

1/2 white onion chopped

1/2 yellow pepper chopped

1/2 red peppper chopped

1 jalapeno chopped

chili powder

cumin

garlic powder

s&p

Preheat oven to 350. Cook ground beef with spices to taste. Add in the veggies. Cook until everything is soft. Slice the Rellenos open, just a slit big enough to stuff, leaving the seeds and the stem. Scrap a fork down the outside of them and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Add the beef and veggie mixture stuffing them until they are totally full. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until the peppers are soft. I also made a homemade enchilada sauce to top them with! 

Sauce:

1tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp chili powder

1 c chicken or beef broth
6oz tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
In sauce pan over medium heat add all ingredients except olive oil. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and keep warm. Whisk in the olive oil right before you pour over your dinner!

Crackling Curry Cauliflower Salad
( I kind of made this up so nothing is exact.)
1/2 head cauliflower
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 red onion
chili flakes (sprinkle lightly)
curry powder
ginger powder
s&p
parsley
lemon zest
squeeze of lemon juice
I added this all to a pan with some olive oil and cooked over medium until the cauliflower was al dente (still a little crispy..you don't want it soft of mushy) let it cool and ate it cold.

Whee that was a lot! It only took me about 2 hours to make all this. I went in with a plan and just knocked it out. I had a (mostly) healthy weekend of GREAT food! 
Hope you like the recipes!!
From My Kitchen to Yours!