Cowboy Caviar

This is one of my kids all times favorites. It is really a dip or side dish but my kids ask for it for dinner all the time. I got this recipe from my friend, Risa.

Cowboy Caviar

1 (15 oz ) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
2 large tomatoes, chopped (or 4 roma tomatoes)
1 large avocado, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped


Dressing:
1 TBSP red wine vinegar
3-4 Tbsp lime juice
3/4 - 1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:
1. Combine first 6 ingredients in large bowl. Mix dressing in separate small bowl and then mix into other ingredients.
2. Cover and chill

contest winner and strawberry and date vinaigrette

And the winner is ... Toni!Way to go girls. I am glad you guys found a way to fit in your exercise. There weren't a ton of entries so this tells me a couple of things.

1. It IS really hard to fit in exercise.
2. You can't really motivate other people to exercise, even if you offer them money.

Even with the pressure of not sounding like a hypocrite on my blog was not enough motivation to overcome the busyness of life. So somehow we have to make the time and make exercise a priority. It takes a lot of discipline. When you find out the secret, let me know!!

So here is a recipe...

strawberry and date vinaigrette

Little less than 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Little less than 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
3 medjool dates
5 frozen strawberries

Blend in blender till smooth.

** This is great with a fruit/green salad. Some possible combinations:

1. spinach, pecans, strawberries
2. romaine, apples, raisins, walnuts, thinly sliced red onion
3. mixed baby greens, pear, almonds


Here is how we had it last night:
mixed baby greens, apples, raw pumpkin seeds

Date Syrup and a Vinaigrette recipe

So in my quest to only use dates to sweeten my dishes I came across this video from the raw chef. This will make a date syrup that you can use to replace maple syrup, agave, or honey in recipes. The date syrup is not as sweet as those other sweeteners so you might want to add a little more or you might just like your recipes a bit less sweet than usual.


Date Syrup
1 cup pitted medjool dates (soak them in the water for a while if you don't have a high power blender)
1 cup water


Blend water and dates in blender until nice syrupy texture. (See video)


You can store this in jar in your fridge to have on hand to add to your recipes.


Here is a vinaigrette recipe that uses the date syrup:


Balsamic Date Vinaigrette (adapted from ohsheglows)


2 1/2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 TBSP date syrup
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 clove minced garlic (optional)
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil


*** Don't forget to exercise this week.!!!

Excuses, Emotional Eating and 2 Really Good Dressings

So did you notice I never posted Friday? Just Keepin' it REAL!

But I did weigh in. I was expecting to maybe stay the same or even gain because last week was BLAH. Do you ever have those weeks? Mine was because my husband was working really long hours at work and I missed him. I am not one of those independent, got it all together wives. I kind of fall apart emotionally ( a bit of an over eaggeration) when my husband is not around. We ate out a bunch. I let the kids watch movies every night and I just found comfort in my old friends - tortilla chips, desserts, you name it. Plus the exercising just wasn't happening.

So all these excuses are to explain my lame weigh in. So I lost .4 pounds. That is POINT 4. You gotta love those digital scales. Somehow I didn't gain. Amazing. I guess I could attribute that to mostly healthy eating, even if I did indulge a bit. But I am really wanting to see some big weight loss in the next month since we will be taking lots of pictures at my daughter's baptism in April. Gotta look good for the camera. I really am not that vain. Although I sure am sounding like it right now.


Now to the recipes... The key to me and my family downing a ton of raw veggies is finding dressings that we love. I have been digging on this vegan ranch recipe almost too much.


Vegan Ranch

1& 1/2 cups cashews (soaked at least 2 hours)
1 & 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 - 2 tsp sea salt ( star with less, add to taste)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp basil


Blend in the blender. Put in fridge for a couple of hours before serving


* If you like dill (we don't) you could add 1 tsp. dill


** I love this!!


Tahini Dressing

This dressing is yummy on falafel, with raw veggies, and on salads.

2 tbsp + 2 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup tahini
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
black pepper (couple of dashes)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh parsley
1/2 cup cold water

Heat garlic in 2 tsp oil in small saute pan over low heat for 2 minutes, just until fragrant.

Add garlic and all other ingredients except parsley in blender and blend until smooth. Add parsley and pulse until parsley is finely chopped but not blended in.

Refrigerate at least one hour in airtight container.

* Okay I must confess I am the only one in the family who really loves this, but I really love it.

Weigh in and Ceasar Salad

So Fridays are my days to weigh myself and I am happy to report that I have lost another 3.8 pounds!! Yay!! So far that it is 6.8 pounds weight loss. And the best part is I am feeling great. Last night I taught a green smoothie class at my friends church and I bought myself a new pair of jeans so I wouldn't have to wear my yoga pants. Sometimes I am so resistant to buying bigger sizes but it feels good to have something else to wear and hopefully in the next month or so they will be too big for me. But it won't be wasted money.


So I haven't really changed my eating that much. When you do weight watchers you have 2 options - you can keep track of everything you eat and their points or you can follow their "simply filling" plan and eat mostly "power foods" and then only count the points of things you eat that are not on the power foods list. I chose the simply feeling option because I hate having to keep track of all those points and because I mostly only eat power foods anyway. Power foods would be whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, and for those that eat these things: lean cut meats and fat free dairy.


So my eating hasn't changed dramatically but I have cut back on the nuts and treats. I have also been cutting back on the coconut oil and sweeteners that are called for in my healthy treat recipes. I have found that most raw desserts only need half or less of the sweetener it calls for in the recipe, the same can be said for the coconut oil.


But I have started exercising again and that has been awesome. So far I can only really speed walk on the treadmill but it is a far cry better than the exercise I was getting walking to the bathroom!!


Now on to a recipe. We eat a lot of salads and let's face it. That can get boring. So it is nice to change them up a bit. Here is a great recipe I got from Whole foods for the Whole Family. I love the croutons! It have never occurred to me to make my own. My kids love them and it helps them gobble up even more salad.

Caesar Salad

Dressing
2 T almond butter or blanched almonds
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 T Dijon mustard
3 T fresh lemon juice
1T tahini
2 T olive oil
Salt to taste

** I added about 1/2 cup of water to this because I thought the Dijon mustard taste was just too strong. So if you aren't a big Dijon mustard fan you could maybe start with half the mustard and then add more if it needs it or add water like I did to dilute it some.

Romaine lettuce, spinach, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, shredded zucchini - whatever you have!


Croutons
4 slices whole wheat bread, cut into cubes
1/2 t dried rosemary
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t Celtic salt

I coat the bread with extra virgin olive oil with my silicone pastry brush - a wonderful kitchen gadget to have!!

Then I sprinkle the herb mixture and cut them up with a pizza cutter.

 Bake in 325 degree oven until crisp, 15-20 minutes.

I've finally found the love of a life time - Favorite Vinaigrette

We eat a lot of salads over here and we try to only eat homemade salad dressings since store bought ones usually have yucky stuff in them. We have tried a couple of different dressing recipes that have been alright and then I came across this one from greensmoothie girl and it was love at first bite.

Basil-Parmesan Vinaigrette

1/2 -3/4 cup basil leaves ( I just used about 1 tsp. dried basil)

1 cup oil (2 Tbsp. flax, the remainder olive)

½ cup Parmesan cheese

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic

¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper

¼ tsp. sea salt

Put in frig to blend flavors for 2 hours.

** Post edit - I was feeling kind of bad about the parmesan cheese in this so tonight I didn't put it in. The kids still loved it.