Crock Pot Potato Soup!

I am hoping to be able to start putting more thought into what I'm making for dinner for myself, and, as it is winter and (finally) getting colder, I thought making a good soup might be nice. I asked my friend Melissa if she had any crock pot soup recipes that she liked, and she shared this potato soup recipe with me! She said that her family really likes it, so I decided to get the ingredients and try to make it myself today.

The good news is, a lot of times potato soup can be really unhealthy, but this particular version is really not! I added more pepper than it called for, and I also used a Greek cream cheese, and, although I have nothing to compare it to having never made this before, it was really good! And it's SO easy. Pretty much you just dump everything in the crock pot and turn it on. If I can do it, anyone can.

If you're looking for an easy and delicious soup recipe, I highly recommend this one. Let me know if you try it!

Local Eating!

I like to shop locally whenever I possibly can, especially where food is involved. Luckily, we have a great year-round local foods store called the Wild Ramp that I visited this morning. I bought a few things and then realized it was about a day's worth of delicious meals!

First up, breakfast:

This delicious mocha zucchini bread from 3 Chicks A Bakin. What a great way to start the day!

Lunch:

I bought these grape tomatoes from 4got-N-Tymes. These cucumbers were grown by local veterans through the Veterans and Warriors to Agriculture program. (I will admit that the red onion is one I already had at home.) But the bonus? This bowl was crafted by a local artist, and I got it at this great event called Empty Bowls.

Dinner:

Purple potatoes! How much do you love these? They are so pretty! Sadly, I can remember which farm they came from, but I will try and find out and will update when I can.

I also got these great green beans from Back Acher Farms. I used one of my favorite recipes, which I eat about once a week, and this is by far the best this recipe has ever tasted!

Dessert:

I am not a huge fan of fudge to be honest, but this looked so good I decided to try it, and I'm glad I did! It has lavender in it -- yum! It's from Spirits of the Wildwood.

Bonus:

So this didn't come from the Wild Ramp, but I did stop in to our local beer place, Bottle and Wedge, to pick up a couple of new bottles to try. I haven't had one yet, but maybe when I get back from yoga tonight. I mean, that's how that works, right?

Freeze!

Last Sunday I wrote about my new thoughts on food. A week in, I have to say I'm pretty proud of my efforts and am really happy with how I've been feeling physically.

Also ALSO!!! I have to update you on a recipe. So in that same post I mentioned that I made a parfait of plain Greek yogurt, raspberries, and Love Crunch as a little dessert. And, yeah, it was tasty. But you guys. YOU GUYS.

A few days ago I decided to mix some raspberries and about a teaspoon of mini chocolate chips with some plain Greek yogurt AND THEN I FROZE IT. Seriously. I thought -- hey, what the heck? This might be good. So I put it in the freezer for about an hour-and-a-half and it was so good. SO. GOOD.

I mean DELISH. I have been mixing up this same concoction pretty much every single day and having it for dessert. (I decided to keep yogurt as dessert and not eat it for meals so I keep thinking of it as a treat.) But man, this dessert has good nutrients from the Greek yogurt and the fruit. AND THINK OF ALL THE THINGS YOU CAN MIX! I tried both slivered almonds and walnuts in my raspberry/yogurt concoction. BOTH GOOD!

Maybe you like peaches or blueberries or strawberries or pecans. I DON'T KNOW YOU I DON'T KNOW YOUR LIFE (as Erin would say), but I say MIX AWAY!!!

And put it in the freezer for about 90 minutes max I'd say. I tried it for a few hours and it was a bit too hard. So mix it up, put it in the freezer, make your dinner, eat it, and then your frozen Heaven will be ready for you. The only problem is you will want more of it!

You can thank me later.

Overfed but Undernourished.

Over the past couple of years I've tried to pay more attention to what I eat, incorporating more fruits and vegetables and eating fewer processed foods. I pretty much believe in all things in moderation, but lately I've been living the exception rather than the rule.

Lately I have been thinking more about what I put on and in my body, especially now that I'm 30 and nature starts taking its course. Yesterday I was turning on Netflix to find a movie to watch in the evening, and I  noticed that something that was recommended for me was a documentary called Fed Up. If you haven't seen it, in a nutshell it's about how the amount of sugar in processed foods is at the root of our nation's obesity problem. After that, I moved into watching Forks Over Knives, which is about rejecting animal-based and processed foods in favor of a plant-based diet.

Here's the thing -- I know that numbers can be manipulated to back up pretty much any point that someone wants to make, but the general gist of both of these documentaries is we need to eat real food.

And can't we all agree with that?

I appreciated a lot of what these documentaries had to say. For example, they stress that it's not as simple as "calories in, calories out." And that's true. We eat way more in a day than we can burn off, even if we combine exercise with our daily activities that naturally burn calories. The thing is a 100 calorie mini-can of Coke just can't have the same affect on our bodies as 100 calories worth of almonds. It just can't. Additionally there are just so many chemicals in processed foods that cannot be easy for our bodies to process. There are many stories about people who were able to go off many medications by changing their diet to natural foods. Have you ever thought that we take so many prescription medications every month yet continue to eat chemicals?

I don't mean to be preachy, because I sure don't know what I'm talking about and also that's offensive. I'm just sharing some things that have come to mind in the past couple of days after giving it all some thought.

My sister Erin is a vegetarian, and after watching Fed Up and part of Forks Over Knives last night I texted her to ask if she felt physically better since she switched to being a vegetarian. She said yeah absolutely and also that she's thinking about going vegan. The thing about myself is, I really don't need to lose too much weight. I have an average-sized frame, and several years ago I lost a bunch of weight because of a medication I was put on. (Before you ask me to tell you what so you can take it too, just believe me when I tell you I'd rather have my 15 pounds back.) However, I think I am what I recently learned is called a TOFI, or Thin Outside, Fat Inside. Meaning, just because I look thin on the outside doesn't mean that I have healthy insides. And I really don't think I do. The other scary thing I noticed about myself over the past year or so is that after I eat a large meal my heart starts to race like it's literally taking my body a massive amount of work to digest it all.

So late last night I took my trash can and disposed of about 1.5 bags of processed and other unhealthy foods I had laying about my house. This afternoon I went to the store and bought some more things to help supplement my new food choices. Another thing the documentaries said that I liked is that you can't think of it like "I'm going on a diet." You have to think of it like, I'm adding these new, nutritious foods to my diet and gradually the old ones with go away. Or think of it like I'm eating real food! And you get to eat a lot of food when it's real food.

I got some quinoa, couscous, brown rice, almonds, leafy greens, squash, grapes, raspberries, Greek yogurt, broccoli, colorful peppers, brussels sprouts, red potatoes, green beans, dates, and many other things. You'll notice from the Greek yogurt I haven't gone vegan like Erin may be doing, and I'm not even saying I'm going completely vegetarian, but I'm putting more focus on things that come from the ground.

I hear you now -- Anna! There's beer in there! Darn right. Because I'm a person. Not a machine. And my intention is not to declare my hatred of things like cake, wine, and Chick-Fil-A. Because what kind of life is that? But on a daily basis, the best bet is for us to nourish ourselves with actual real food. The thing that really stood out to me in all I watched was this line: We're overfed but undernourished. WHOA. That's so true. We are the wealthiest nation in the world and also the heaviest. It doesn't matter what you put on your outsides if your insides are dying. Also I don't make much money at all, and I can't do a lot of things like shop or go to the movies, and yes, it would be WAY cheaper for me to have stocked up today on things like frozen pizza and chips because that stuff doesn't cost as much money. But at what personal cost to my body and future would I have done that?

The truth is even as I'm sitting here I'm thinking how good some cookies would be. (I mean donuts are my favorite food.) And that's to be expected because sugar is a drug. The more you have the more you want. And it takes time to detoxify yourself from sugar and processed foods. Like I told my sister last night, this languishing in the headache, processed foods, sugar, etc. lifestyle seems easier than changing. Which means I need to change. And if I don't do it now, I never will. It'll be super hard for a while turning away from old habits, but I am praying that it pays off with more energy, healthier insides, and an all-around better feeling.

For dinner tonight I made myself roasted red potatoes and green beans. I loosely followed this recipe, meaning I used it to tell me what temperature the oven should be on and how long I should leave everything in there. But here's what I personally did:

Ingredients:
- 6 small red potatoes
- Some french-style fresh green beans
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- rosemary
- fresh garlic

This is the first time I've ever used by rabbit garlic press (is that even what it's called?) that a friend brought me back a couple years ago from her trip to Prague!

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cut the red potatoes into eighths.
3. Place the potatoes in a bowl, and drizzle some olive oil on them. Add salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and rosemary to taste and mix around.
4. Place the potatoes on one half of a cookie sheet you've sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes.
6. While that's baking, throw your green beans in a bowl, and drizzle some olive oil on them. Add salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and rosemary to taste and mix around.
7. When the potatoes have been in about 15 minutes, add the green beans to the other side of the sheet.
8. Bake for another 15-20 minutes.


It was so good! Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have added some slivered almonds to the mix! Next time.

Oh look! I also had dessert. :) I made a little parfait of plain Greek yogurt, raspberries, and some organic dark chocolate granola. That was super good too!

I tried to help myself out by washing my grapes and bagging them up in individual baggies and making some yogurt raspberry parfaits in tupperware containers. I'm about to sit down and plan a couple meals too because I feel like I do a lot better getting my fruits and veggies in if I actually plan what I'm going to eat in advance.

Anyways, these are just some thoughts that I've been having lately about what we put on the inside of our bodies and how we really need to think about what we're filling ourselves with.

Lemon Cookies

I have a fun, quick, and easy recipe to share today! I found this recipe on Pinterest not long ago and thought -- what the heck? I'll give it a try. And I'm so glad I did! You can make these delicious cookies with four ingredients. FOUR! And it takes barely any time. With that, I give you

Lemon Cool Whip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box lemon cake mix
1 tub (8 oz.) cool whip
1 egg
Powdered sugar

Steps:
- Preheat oven to 350
- Grease a cookie sheet (probably two)
- Combine box of lemon cake mix, the cool whip, and the egg
- Stir until ingredients completely combined (It will be fluffy and wet)
- Use two spoons to scoop up a bit of rounded batter and roll it completely in powdered sugar
- Place on the cookie sheet about two inches apart
- Bake for about 8 minutes

And that is all!

These cookies are so chewy and delish! I followed the directions totally as-is and it worked perfectly.

I hope you enjoy them! Let me know if you try.

Easy and Delish Chocolate Chip Scones!

Due to more crazy weather we're having in my neck of the woods, we haven't had school yesterday or today. For whatever reason, last night I went to bed with a hankering for something sweet for breakfast. I'm not a cook or a baker, but I'm not terrible either, so I thought about it and decided -- a scone! That'd be tasty. So this morning I got up and Googled "scones with Bisquick" because I have some of that (believe it or not) and I thought -- why not try?

Luckily for me, this recipe came up immediately. I made one quick modification because of an ingredient I didn't have on hand, but honestly -- if I have these ingredients at home then everyone does. (Trust me, ask Erin.) With that, I give you Easy Chocolate Chip Scones, a Betty Crocker recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups Original Bisquick™ mix

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini ones.)

1/3 cup half and half (The original recipe calls for heavy whipping cream, but I didn't have that, so I modified by using half and half.)

3 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Additional half and half

Additional sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray or grease with shortening. Stir Bisquick mix, chocolate chips, 1/3 cup half and half, 3 tablespoons sugar, the egg and vanilla in medium bowl until soft dough forms.

2. Pat into 8-inch circle on cookie sheet. Brush circle with additional half and half; sprinkle with additional sugar. Cut into 8 wedges, but do not separate.

3. Bake about 12 minutes or until golden brown; carefully separate. Serve warm.

AND THAT IS IT! They are really, really good! And trust me, if I can make these, so can you! The only problem is trying not to eat them all in one sitting! I dearly love all things English, so I probably should have had tea with these, but as I am an American, and tea is, of course, anti-American, I did have coffee with mine. :)

Took a bite out of this one already! Couldn't wait!

DIY: Homemade Detergent

If you're my Facebook friend, then you know a month or so ago I purchased a liquid detergent from Family Dollar with a scent that can only be described as "men's deodorant." I bought it in an effort to save money, but it truly was not worth it to smell like Speed Stick for Men every darn day. Ew.

On that post, a couple of friends commented that they made their own detergent at home. They said that one batch lasts a really long time, and it ends up being around something like .05 a load. Well Suzy Homemaker I am not, but I figured I could probably get a few supplies, dump them in a bucket and stir them around. So I bought what they suggested and also consulted this link.

I finally made time to make it today. The hardest part was grating the Fels-Naptha soap because, even though my mom had let me borrow her food processor and given me the grater addition, I didn't have the thing that hooks the grater to the machine ... anyways, suffice it to say I didn't have what I needed to use the food processor, so I decided to do it by hand. I didn't want to wait another day. I was a gal on a mission. So I grated that dang soap by hand, and it seriously took me about 45 minutes per bar, so ... maybe use your food processor. Haha.

This looks like delicious cheese. While grating, I made up a long story in my head about someone thinking it was cheese and using it and then finding out it was soap.  But since I live here alone, that is unlikely to happen. Good story Anna. Tell it again.

Then I threw the Fels-Naptha into my container, and added the Borax, the Super Washing Soda, the Baking Soda, and the Oxi Clean. Then I stirred it around with a spoon.

I had some laundry I need to do (some = a ton), so I decided to give it a go. I washed socks, undies, and pajamas and they look pretty clean! Haha. At any rate, they do not smell like Speed Stick, so that in itself is a huge improvement.

A Favorite Dish From a Non-Cook.

As I've said a million times, I'm no cook. But I have been trying to make more meals at home for a while. And there is one meal that I make at least once a week that maybe you'll like too!

This is actually a dish I "made up," and by that I mean that I didn't look up or follow any sort of recipe. Although I am aware that I am not the first person in the history of the world who thought to add veggies to pasta. :)

This dish primarily revolves around yellow squash. So if you like yellow squash, read on! And if you don't, you should!

Step one is to boil a pot of water for pasta. I prefer wheat farfalle (bowties), but lately the cheaper option at the store has been wheat rotini. When the water boils, add the appropriate amount of pasta to the pot.

While your pasta is cooking, cut up an appropriate amount of yellow squash. By appropriate amount, I mean whatever it takes to feed you and your family. I only make this for myself, but I also like to have leftovers for lunch and a second dinner, so I cut up two smaller yellow squashes. I prefer to cut it up into chunks. Put your squash in a saute pan with coconut or olive oil and a little salt and let it saute. When the squash is getting close to being done, add some balsamic vinegar to the pan. I like balsamic vinegar a lot, so I add a lot, but add what you like!

At this point, your pasta should be done, so go ahead and drain it. After you drain it, put it back in the pot. Then add your sauteed squash to your pasta in the same pot. Go ahead and douse the whole pot with more balsamic vinegar. Then add some more salt.

Grab yourself a bowl, and put some mozzarella cheese or even an Italian cheese blend in the bottom of the bowl. Dish yourself out a serving of the pasta and squash, then add a little more cheese and salt to taste.

Voila! You have a super easy, super delish and pretty healthy dinner!

This week I was lucky because I am house sitting for a family that gardens, so I had some locally grown yellow squash to enjoy! I also had some cherry tomatoes (red and yellow) so I went ahead and sauteed them with the squash and added them to the dish too.

I know, not a gourmet dish by any means, but it is SO good. Let me know if you try it and if you like it!

White wine optional, but recommended!

I Followed a Recipe! Cookie Dough Dip and Salad Dressing.

Yum! Looks like a big bowl of heaping chocolate chip cookie dough, right?

WRONG! So wrong.

Let me explain. I recently stumbled across a blog called Chocolate Covered Katie. Basically, she develops recipes that allow you to eat your favorite desserts in a healthy way. The first recipe I saw of hers was on Pinterest and it was for cookie dough dip. I decided to try it.

The first surprise of this dessert is that it contains an entire can of chickpeas. You heard me. When I first opened the can and rinsed them, I was like no way. These things smell pretty strong and there is no way that this is going to work. But I pressed on.

I tossed them in the food processor with salt, baking soda, vanilla, 1/4 cup of almond butter, brown sugar, some oats and a little flax. I processed and processed. And then took it out and threw some chocolate chips in. Low and behold, I got cookie dough!

Can you believe it? I put it in the fridge to chill, since the food processor spinning made it kind of warm. Now it looks even more like cookie dough!

Final verdict? Pretty good. It's not as sweet as regular cookie dough, and mine is darker than Katie's, but I'm wondering if she used another nut butter that wasn't almond, which is what I used. Other than it not being as sweet as traditional cookie dough, I'd say it's pretty darn close! If I did it again, I wouldn't add the chocolate chips till after I had chilled it for awhile since they got a little melty due to the dough being warm from the food processor. I might also try agave syrup instead of brown sugar to make it even more healthy. Katie suggests to eat with graham crackers, so that's what I'm going to do! There are a ton of other recipes on her blog that I hope to try too!

*****************

I've talked about Amy's blog a lot because I love it, I love reading about her family and their adoption journey and lifestyle. But the other day she put up a recipe for a salad dressing she and her daughter concocted. Concocted is probably too fancy a word since this dressing involves two ingredients! That's right, just two. She decided that even her "natural" dressings had too much nonsense in them, so she threw two little cucumbers and a mango in the food processor and called it a day.

So I did too.

And it tastes pretty good! I think I messed up and added too much cucumber and I only had one mango, so I couldn't keep messing with the proportions. Amy's is more orange and mine is more green, so my goal is to go get another mango (or two!) and put it all back in the food processor again to make it more mango-y and less cucumber-y, which I think will make it even tastier. And think of how much you can use since it's just cucumbers and mangos!

Thanks Katie and Amy!

I Followed a Recipe! No Bake Energy Bites.

As has been stated many a time on this blog, I am not known for my kitchen skills. Sure, I can wash a dish or organize a pantry with the best of them, but when it comes to cooking and baking, I just ... don't. But I've also been attempting to put more effort into making some healthy dinners and just trying to eat better overall.

I know myself, and I know that I can't just give up sweets and dessert. I truly believe that it's not a slice of cake that makes you unhealthy, it's the whole cake, or a couple slices every day. Dessert is not the devil, overeating is.

I was browsing Pinterest the other day, and saw a recipe for these No Bake Energy Bites. They looked tasty, so I investigated further and found myself at the Cooking Classy blog. Awesome! I was so excited to find out that these Bites were made with healthy ingredients. Seriously! The author claimed that not only were they healthy, but they were good enough to be a dessert. Best part? No baking of course! I decided to try it for myself.

I combined the peanut butter, vanilla and honey in a bowl, then stirred in the oats, the flax and the coconut. (Although, I will admit, it called for toasted coconut, but I am impatient so I just used the raw.) Then I added the chocolate chips.

I then let it sit in the fridge to chill for about 90 minutes or so. I then took the "dough" out of the fridge and formed my bites. Easy peasy!

And they taste GREAT! They remind me of a no-bake oatmeal cookie or even raw cookie dough. They are definitely good enough to be a little dessert, and I'm so happy to know that they are full of healthy ingredients and not loaded with sugar or wacky ingredients.

I made my balls a little smaller, so my batch yielded about 25 of them. The author said she liked to use mini chocolate chips, and I definitely agree. I wasn't able to find the mini ones at the store today, so I had to go with regular, and they are harder to form since the the size of the chocolate chip and the size of the completed snack are so close. I'll definitely try minis next time! This is super delish, especially if you're like me and you like a sweet treat, don't like to bake and don't want to have to buy crazy ingredients you'll only use once.

I've been scouting out some other healthy dessert recipes and plan to try them out in the future. I'll post about them here!

Thanks Cooking Classy! Follow the recipe for yourself here: No Bake Energy Bites