Categories
Healthy Living

5 Quick, Easy, Nutritious And 100% Plant Based Breakfasts

It’s not just an old wive’s tale, it’s been scientifically proven that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Recent studies show that in order to attune our diet with how our bodies naturally burn energy we should be consuming 15-25% of our daily energy intake (that’s 300–500 calories for women and 375–625 for men) at breakfast time. Of course, your nutritional gains will be dictated more by the kinds of foods you eat in the morning than when you eat them. A hastily scarfed candy bar or a lot of the sugary processed cereal bars marketed as ‘health’ foods don’t exactly constitute hearty and nutritious breakfasts.

5 Quick, Easy, Nutritious And 100% Plant Based Breakfasts

For many of us, especially in the US, it seems a choice between heavily processed and sugary cereal with cow’s milk or heavily processed and fatty bacon or sausage. Whether you’re on a vegan whole foods plant based diet or not, the importance of good quality nutrition at the breakfast table can’t be underestimated. Of course, with all the inevitable rush and bustle of an early morning, nobody wants to be a slave to the stove either. That’s why all of these nutritious breakfasts can be hustled up in 15 minutes or less. If you’re extra pushed for time, check out Chaching Queen’s breakfast recipes which can be hustled up in 5 minutes or less! They’re all totally plant based too.

Healthy Breakfasts on the Go: Raspberry and quinoa smoothie

This one is perfect for those on the go. Quinoa is one of the most nutritious grains out there and an abundant source of protein, fiber and the essential minerals like riboflavin, iron, and magnesium. Loaded with vitamins and complex carbohydrates it will stave off hunger for hours.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
  • 2 cups oat milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk alternative)
  • 2 cups Greek yogurt, plain
  • 4 cups frozen raspberries

Instructions

  • Cook and cool quinoa according to package directions.
  • Add all the ingredients to a blender in this order: oat milk, yogurt, quinoa, and raspberries. Blend on high (or smoothie mode) until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve immediately.

Classic Breakfast with a Twist: Vegan french toast

Yes, this breakfast classic is just as delicious without the sugar and cholesterol saturated eggs. Simply use a blend of flour and almond milk for the batter (which can also make fluffy pancakes) and soak day old bread in it before searing it in the pan for a crunchy crust with a fluffy interior! Top with peanut butter for added protein and fats or your favorite fruits for added vitamins. Pure luxury.

Comfort Food Breakfast Update: Cinnamon raisin brown rice porridge

A cheap, quick and easy (as well as gluten free) option, just cook the rice grains in almond milk over a low heat until they form a porridge-like consistency. Top it with chia seeds, coconut flakes, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, your favorite fruits… Or all of the above!

Crunchy Breakfast Option: 10-minute no-bake granola bars

Even tastier than the store bought varieties without the added refined sugars, oils and preservatives. Combining oats with nuts, seeds, dried fruits, coconut oil and your choice of honey, maple syrup or agave nectar gives you a delicious and portable breakfast that will keep you going until lunch time (or you could pack an extra one as a pre-lunch snack, I won’t tell anyone).

Hearty Breakfast Option: Vegan breakfast burritos

If you like your breakfasts savory and crunchy then this is the one for you. This plant-based twist on the traditional breakfast burrito substitutes scrambled egg for scrambled tofu with refried beans, brown rice, your choice of veggies, and a mild salsa. It’s a handful of protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats to start your day off right!

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[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
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Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Tools of the Trade

The Kitchen Appliances Your Culinary Space Needs

Who doesn’t love helpful kitchen appliances? The one item your kitchen has to have to reduce your cooking time, increase the flavor in your food, or simply make life easier or help you to present food better. The truth is, there is such an array of kitchen appliances available that can cover our kitchen work surfaces that at some point we can run out of space to even prepare ingredients! (I’m experiencing that now since I received an array of them as wedding gifts last October.) So what kitchen appliances do you actually need? I thought I would share with you six appliances I believe you should consider.

The Kitchen Appliances Your Culinary Space Needs

Essential Kitchen Appliance #1: The pressure cooker

Have you ever gotten in from work or a long day out of the home and thought about your evening meal, only to realize that you have a big joint of meat to cook or something that is going to take far too long? We have all been there, and even the most prepared among us can have days where we forget about what we are going to cook. This is when a pressure cooker can really help. If you are ever unsure, then check out some of the pressure cooker reviews you can find online. A pressure cooker can help with reducing the time it takes to cook something, while still maintaining the flavor, the vitamins, and nutrients within the ingredients.


 

Essential Kitchen Appliance #2: The blender

blenderI love my blenders — I have two of them, a Vitamix and a Nutribullet. The former I use as my basic blender for pretty much everything … I can even “cook” with it. The latter I use for making smoothies on the go because it comes with a handy container and lid.

Blending a sauce or making a smoothie is something many have us have grown accustomed to, so a blender is an essential within your home, wouldn’t you agree? Enabling you to blend up soups, lumpy sauces or even make your favorite fruit (or chocolate, peanut butter and banana — my favorite!) smoothie in the morning.


 

Essential Kitchen Appliance #3: The juicer

Juicing has become something many of us are into, so there is no surprise that a juicer is becoming one of the must-have kitchen appliances. However, aside from doing the obvious, a cooking technique to try would be to juice a vegetable, and then cook a whole vegetable within the juices of its own kind. It makes for some great flavor within your cooking.


 

Essential Kitchen Appliance #4: The mixer

Making cakes, kneading bread, creating meringue or simply combining wet and dry ingredients are all made easier with a mixer. This is something that every home cook would like to have in their kitchen cupboards for sure. A hand-held mixer is great to have on hand if you don’t have the space for a standing mixer. But, as I know from experience, a standing mixer makes life so much easier when doing things that require a longer mixing time, such as making whipped cream.


 

Essential Kitchen Appliance #5: The slow cooker

A slow cooker is something that may be more used in the colder months, but it is a great way to remain organized and have a warm home-cooked meal ready for you at the end of the day. I have two of them, one large and one medium sized. I love the simplicity of cooking with a slow cooker — just load up the pot with your ingredients, switch on the timer and let it cook all day. This works well with anything saucy, cuts of meat, stews, and casseroles. I’ve gotten the tenderest pork this way.


 

Essential Kitchen Appliance #6: The steamer

Finally, a steamer is a fresh and easy way to prepare vegetables while still maintaining the nutrients and vitamins within them. It can also cook fish and meat, making it a great alternative method of cooking. There are even types of bread you can make in a steamer.


 
Of course, there are smaller kitchen appliances and gadgets you could have, that you can store away in your cupboards and drawers, but I certainly think the above list can help even the most amateur of cooks create culinary masterpieces.

Categories
Cooking Techniques

A Delicious Asian Food Feast, Home Cooked In 5 Easy Steps

Have you ever gotten take out Asian food and thought, I bet I could do this at home? Well, now you can! And it’s not even that complicated. You just need to know the inside tricks to help you. Luckily, below you will find some of these, along with a step-by-step guide on how to create a delicious home cooked Chinese feast that includes tempura vegetables, special fried rice, and Chinese pork. Yum!

fried rice
Image link

Step One: Prepare Before You Cook

The first step is to get as much as you can ready before you start cooking. That means boiling the rice, dicing the vegetables and marinating the pork.

You can use boil in-the-bag rice as it’s way easier and always come out good. Set this to boil while you cut up bell peppers, onions, and sweet potatoes for the tempera. When this is done dice some more onions and microwave some frozen peas for the rice.

Then take your pork steaks and make a marinade from soy sauce, crushed garlic, ginger and fresh chili, as well as Chinese five spice, and rice wine vinegar. You can do this according to your taste or follow an exact recipe here. You can even throw in some duck sauce for a rich, sweet kick that goes great with the pork. Once it’s made thoroughly toss the pork in this.

Step Two: Cooking Chinese Food Ingredients

This is where you start cooking for real, so pop the pork into an ovenproof dish, and then into a preheated oven at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

Remove the peas and onions from the microwave and set aside. Take an egg and make a thin omelet in the base of a wok or frying pan. Then turn this out on a cutting board and dice it into smaller pieces and leave to cool.

Step three: Deep Fry the Tempura

Create a simple batter for the tempura with flour and water. A carbonated and fruit flavored water can give the batter a delicious light texture, and slightly sweet taste that is perfect for this recipe. Get the exact measurements for a perfect batter here.

Then dredge the pepper, onion, and sweet potato pieces in flour, dip in the batter and deep fry in hot oil until crisp. Remove the from the oil and set aside on kitchen roll to allow them to drain.

Step Four: Prepare the Fried Rice

At this point, add some sesame oil to a wok or frying pan. Toss in the peas and onions. Drain the rice and add to the wok. Stir fry on a high heat for a minute or two. Adding the egg just before the end so it can heat through. Just before you serve, get the pork out the oven and make sure it’s cooked.

Step Five: Serve Your Asian Food Feast

Lastly, serve up your delicious items in separate bowls and allow your guests to help themselves. A sweet chili sauce is a great accompaniment to the tempura, and some extra soy can give the rice a nice tang. Make sure to set out both chopsticks (for that authentic experience) and forks and spoons (for your less adventurous diners).



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Categories
Cooking Techniques

Jamaican Jerk Chicken – Prepared Safely

SONY DSC

Do you have a hankering for some spicy Jamaican Jerk Chicken? Before you begin, make sure that you are preparing the meat safely!

Chicken, the base of so many wonderful meals. Loved by old, young, rich, and poor, alike. It goes in our sandwiches, makes fantastic stock, and is the cornerstone of one of the biggest fast food chains in the world. It is an economical source of protein, as well.

raw chicken thighs
By gran (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

But as with every meat, there is a risk of food poisoning. While you may have read about raw chicken being a delicacy in Eastern countries, the fact of the matter is that it’s not safe to eat raw chicken in any form! So here’s a little reminder of how to keep your chicken on the right side of healthy and tasty, with a tasty Jamaican jerk chicken recipe.

Safe Chicken Practices

Don’t wash your chicken! Some people have been taught to wash raw chicken but this actually helps to promote cross contamination because washing poultry can spread the juices around and therefore spread bacteria further than the immediate area. Instead, simply pat dry with a paper towel and dispose of the paper towel directly.

Avoid cross contamination. The first thing to do to avoid this is to make sure there is nothing dripping from the package and make sure you use different surfaces for different foods. Make sure your chicken stays in one area and doesn’t touch anything else before being cooked. You only have to see a number of food poisoning claims that are made in any one year due to poor hygiene in professional restaurants. There’s a lot of them! I have separate cutting boards that I use for different types of food to help with this.


Thaw properly. If a chicken has been frozen raw, three of the methods of letting it defrost naturally include: placing it in the refrigerator overnight, in the microwave, or in cold water. Never leave chicken on a counter. And make sure that you keep the temperature of the outside of the chicken less than 41°F.

Cook it properly. You need to cook the meat to a temperature of 165°F. This needs to be on the inside of the meat, so you need to use a digital thermometer that is tip sensitive as well as check the meat temperature in various spots.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

jamaican jerk chicken
Public domain photo via Pexels

Now that you know how to prepare chicken properly, let’s make some tasty jerk chicken!

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons thyme
  • 1 tablespoon rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon allspice
  • 1 tablespoon ginger
  • 1 1⁄2 tablespoons sea salt
  • 1 1⁄2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 1⁄2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 3⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3⁄4 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons scotch bonnet peppers*
  • 12 bay leaves
  • 1⁄3 cup sugar
  • The juice of 1 lime
  • 1⁄4 cup olive oil
  • 3 lbs of chicken

Directions

  1. Ground all the ingredients (except the lime juice and oil) into a fine paste.
  2. Whisk together the lime juice and oil.
  3. Rub the chicken with lime and oil mix (but don’t marinate).
  4. Coat chicken with the ground ingredients.
  5. Refrigerate for 1-3 hours, then remove and allow it to come to almost room temperature.v
  6. Grill chicken. Once seared, move it to the indirect heat part of the grill, cook it to 165°F (internal temperature).

And voila! Enjoy with some rice and peas and you’ve got an amazing Jamaican meal!

Scotch bonnet pepper
By Temaciejewski (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

* Scotch bonnet peppers are also known as Bonney peppers or Caribbean red peppers. It is a variety of chili pepper named for its resemblance to a tam o’ shanter hat.

These peppers are used to flavor a variety of dishes from cuisines around the world. They are often used in hot sauces and condiments. The Scotch bonnet pepper has a sweeter flavor and stouter shape, which makes it distinct from its habanero relative (with which it is often confused). This pepper gives jerk dishes, both pork, and chicken, as well as other Caribbean dishes, their unique flavor.

Categories
Creative Cookery

Hand-Held Food: The Perfect Choices for Your Summer Garden Mealtime

Hand-held food is great for summer parties. But there are some tricks of the “trade,” so to speak, you’ll want to keep in imind when crafting the perfect food for your beautiful summer. You might want to provide your family with a beautiful outdoor dining experience a few times a week. Or you might want to invite guests to come and experience your cooking skill on your newly installed outdoor veranda. However, food eaten outside is sometimes a little different than the food you can eat outside on a typical dinner table.

While the food needs to be more convenient, it needn’t be overbearingly difficult to make or be any less flavorful.

In order to experience the best that your kitchen has to offer while dining outside, consider providing family and friends with the following hand-held food items:

hand-held food - pizza

Pizza – The Ultimate Hand-Held Food

Pizza, famously easy to eat anywhere, is amazing to make from scratch but can be challenging to get exactly right. Once you’ve spread your dough, separated the cheese and come up with your own beautiful tomato sauce with a hint of spice, throwing your beautiful creation onto a pizza stone in the oven can lend your pizza the air of Italian authenticity. Stone grilling a pizza is much more preferable to your standard oven because it helps the bread stay more evenly crispy and lends that beautiful char-grilled flavor to the base itself. To help prevent sticking, scatter some corn meal on the stone before placing your pie on it.


Pizza is a great food item to make with your family. In dividing a lot of different ingredients, you can allow your children to place their own toppings. This, in turn, can serve as a fun activity for them. Hopefully, it will spawn the desire for your little ones to be competent cooks as they grow up.

hand-held food - tacos
Flickr

Tacos – Hand-Held Food from South of the Border

Much like pizza, the intrinsically grabbable nature of a taco serves to make it the ultimate convenience food. When you makie the ingredients yourself, you can pull together some very flavorful options. For the perfect salsa, I’d recommend:

  • a small crushed garlic clove,
  • a squeeze of lime juice,
  • chopped coriander,
  • eight tomatoes peeled and chopped,
  • around a full onion also chopped very finely,
  • vinegar and
  • seasoning.

For a little taste of something different that really works, consider chopping two tablespoons of pineapple to bring out that citrus bite.

The only problem you’ll have with tacos is that they are so ‘more-ish,’ you’re likely to be all out while the guests satiate their hunger and beyond.

hand-held food - skewers and kabobs

Skewers – Hand-Held Food on a Stick

Never fear, if worried about children, you can find wooden skewers with ease that can be snipped at the end to prevent any sharp end injuries from occurring. Aside from that, using skewers to help cook various meats and cheeses, such as chorizo and halloumi, lightly seasoned with pepper and a very, very tiny sprinkle of rosemary can make for the perfect and most convenient appetizer. These can serve as a perfect side accessory to your main dish, and can also be happily used to mop up any of the salsa left over from your taco’s.

These foods, well made, should bring your family a beautiful mealtime worth remembering.

Categories
Healthy Living

Try These Low-Carb Lunches Using a Slow Cooker

Your slow cooker is probably one of the most underused appliances in your kitchen. You may use it from time to time, but it will likely be for a dinner or for something specific. If you have decided to switch to a low-carb diet, you may feel like your slow cooker has no place in your new lifestyle. However, I’m happy to tell you, there are many lunches that you can make that fit in well with your low-carb diet and that can be made in a slow cooker. Here are a few ideas, most of which can be made in large batches and frozen or used for later in the week.

slow cooker

Stuffed Mushrooms

What? Stuffed mushrooms in a slow cooker? Yep, with just a few tweaks, you can make this a great lunch for eating at home or on the go. Ideally, you will want to use Portobello mushrooms for this because they have larger caps. They are also fat-free, very low in calories and rich sources of copper and selenium. To work well in a slow cooker, the filling should be made of cheese, ground pork, ground beef, and seasonings. Mix your filling and place in the caps. Place the caps in the slow cooker and cook for 2 hours on high or 4 hours on low. They can be placed into a lunch carrier or can be eaten on the spot with some pasta sauce to complete the dish.


Pasta-Free Spaghetti and Meatballs

spiralized zucchiniDouble what? Spaghetti without pasta? Yep, there are pasta-like alternatives for people on a low-carb diet. One option is to use a vegetable spiralizer to create “noodles” out of a vegetable such as zucchini. Or you can use spaghetti squash. You can even use the spiraled zucchini along with the spaghetti squash! The spaghetti squash can be roasted alongside the meatballs in the slow cooker. Just place a piece of rolled tinfoil in between to keep them separate. The meatballs can be whatever meat you like, just make sure you are not using breadcrumbs as the binder (that increases the carbs). Use egg and some cheese instead. Cook the squash and the meatballs on low for 4 to 6 hours. Take out the squash and use a fork to pull out the meat of the squash. It will make the noodles. Then just dress the noodles with pasta sauce and the meatballs.


Pulled Pork Bahn Mi

Lucky for pulled pork fans, this dish is incredibly easy to make in the slow cooker — and it can be easy to assemble as a lunch. Just place several pieces of boneless pork chops or a half pork loin in the slow cooker with a little water for 6 hours on high or 4 hours on low. Cook until tender, but thoroughly cooked throughout. Use two forks to shred the pork. Toss in a low-carb sauce like a low-carb oriental sauce and add some shredded cabbage and other shredded vegetables. Place the mixture into a purple cabbage leaf cup or “bun” for a finished meal.

These are only three options, but by using these options you can start to find out what other recipes may be good for you. Stuffed Italian pizza peppers, pasta-free pasta dishes, and more can be derived and tweaked to your own taste.


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[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Healthy Living

How to Have a Healthy Breakfast Every Day in Less Than Ten Minutes

yogurt for breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as the saying goes. Everyone — from little ones to adults — needs a good start. A nutritious breakfast gives you energy so you can work, learn, play and socialize. But people are so busy these days, they often go without breakfast. So how can you get the nutrients you need quickly? Here’re some ideas for creating a healthy breakfast every day in less than ten minutes.

yogurt for breakfast

Step One: Prepare in advance of shopping for ingredients

The weekends are the time when most families get their errands done. That means grocery shopping for the upcoming week. Sit down for a few minutes and plan the week’s breakfasts. Think about what you can make ahead. Great make ahead ideas include:

  • Whole grain waffles — pop them in the toaster in the morning before school. If you flavor them with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, they may not even need syrup.
  • Fruity pancakes — pop them in the toaster. Add apple chunks or other fruit to the mix. Then your children can eat them by hand on their way out the door.
  • Oatmeal — steel cut oats warm up nicely in the microwave. And, you can put them in the frig at night with some water or milk and some frozen fruit. In the morning, they’ll be ready to eat cold or warmed in the microwave!

Other quick breakfast ideas include:

  • Yogurt with granola and fruit topping (You can cut up the fruit ahead of time)
  • Egg sandwiches. Try English muffins, a slice of American cheese, and scrambled or a fried egg.
  • Smoothie with protein powder. A smoothie is delicious, and with a yogurt base and lots of fruit, it can also be healthy. Add a scoop of protein powder to the mix to make sure you have enough energy to get through your morning successfully.

Step Two: Shop from the list you prepared

Once you’ve decided what to serve in the morning, make a list of the ingredients you’ll need. Head to the supermarket and make sure you shop from your list. The trip will go much more quickly.

waffles for breakfast

Step Three: Do what you can ahead of time.

Spend an hour on Saturday or Sunday night preparing some meals ahead of time. For example, you can make a double batch of waffles and pop them in the freezer. In the morning all you need to do is put them in the toaster and serve. Breakfast in less than ten minutes.

Step Four: Commit to the process.

Yes, you’re busy. Find ways that your family members can help you prepare breakfast. For example, can they slice fruit? Can they stir the steel cut oats? Can they set the yogurt toppings on the table? Get the whole family involved.

Breakfast is an essential component of a healthy diet. With a little planning and forethought, you can make sure your entire family is well nourished. And you can accomplish it without too much trouble, stress or headaches. Remember, breakfast is important for you, too. Be a good role model and sit down with your family for that first meal of the day as often as you can.


[divider]

[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

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