Cheese Stuffed Baby Peppers

These little baby peppers are so delicious and easy to make. Thanks to our long time family friend, Lori, for the great idea! This is a very versatile recipe. You can use any combination your heart desires. My favorite is mozzarella, Parmesan, and jack. I've also used cheddar. You just toss the cheese with salt, pepper, fresh chopped garlic (though I've used dried minced garlic when I didn't feel like chopping) and any other herb you would like. Great appetizer, snack, or side dish! My kids gobble these up! They can be made on a grill or in the oven with a pepper rack, or in the oven packed in a oven safe dish (I've used round pyrex dishes and packed them in there so they can all stand up. You just want to make sure the sides of the dish are taller than the peppers. The pepper rack is really awesome for this, highly recommended.)

Cheese Stuffed Baby Peppers
by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

1 lb baby bell peppers, organic
Approximately 1 lb of cheese, any combination  you like (parm, moz, jack, cheddar, etc)
3 cloves of garlic, minced, organic
Salt to taste (I use about 1/2 ts)
Pepper to taste (again I use about 1/2 ts)
TS or to taste of any herb you like, I've used thyme, parsely, and basil

Shred cheese and toss with salt, pepper, garlic, and herbs. Slice the tops off of the peppers and remove seeds. Stuff with cheese to the top and place in pepper rack or oven safe dish. Repeat for all the peppers. If using a pepper rack and your pepper is too small for the hole (also keep in mind they will get soft when cooking and will squish a little) stick a toothpick through the pepper across the hole to keep it in. Place on grill and cook until cheese is melted. Or place in oven at 350 degrees (though 400 works too if you're cooking something else at the same time, very forgiving) for 10-20 minutes until cheese is melted. Let cool slightly, the cheese will be hot, then serve!

I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Broccoli Cheese Rounds

These little gooey rounds are a great appetizer, lunch, or side dish. These are a great way to get veggies into picky eaters. Lucky for me I really don't have to get fancy with broccoli to get my kids to eat it thanks to the "broccoli monster" game my hubby created when our oldest was one or two. It consists of the kids eating the tops off the broccoli and then the broccoli monster gobbles up the stem, complete with loud sound effects. It was really great, all the kids LOVE broccoli and eat a ton of it now. Unfortunately for hubby, they still expect him to play the game, 8 years later (aside from our oldest who always declares that he eats his own stems now). They even save the stems for the broccoli monster if he's not home in time for dinner. Nothing like cold, slimy broccoli stems wrapped in a napkin waiting for you when you walk in the door ;)

Anyway, back to these rounds. Luckily for the broccoli monster the stems are all incorporated in and it would be really hard to save stems from these. Though I do have to say our three year old did find a way to liberate a stem. These taste great on their own or dipped in just about anything. And I do mean anything, lol. I think last time we had them there was a variety of dipping going on consisting of ketchup, mustard, ranch, and blue cheese. All were a success with the dippers. Please don't take my word on that and blame me if you gag after dipping them in blue cheese or something, I only dipped them in ranch =) I can't vouch for the sanity of my kids dipping pleasures.

Plus I made these grain-free! Other recipes I've seen all incorporate bread crumbs, which you could do, but I used almond meal.

Broccoli Cheese Rounds
by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle
Makes about 20 rounds (about 2 inches wide)

2 heads of broccoli
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 ts good salt
1/4 ts ground pepper
1/2 ts garlic powder
1 1/2-2 cups almond meal, start with 1 1/2 cups and if your batter ends up to gooey you can add more (you could use bread crumbs here if you want)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop the broccoli real small and steam until tender. If it's small enough it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to steam it. Let it cool for a few minutes. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. With your hands, form into patties, I make mine about 2 inches wide but you can do any size you want. Place patties on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes and then flip them and bake for another 15 minutes or until a nice golden brown. Let cool a little before serving. Enjoy!

Layered bean dip

I sometimes wonder if I"m part Mexican...I'm not...but I still wonder. I could eat Mexican food every.single.day. Seriously. Luckily my family loves it too....though they would not be cool with every day, but a couple times a week seems to work for everyone (with a secret stash of chips and salsa on hand for me). Here's a great bean dip that's wonderful for parties, or movie nights, or "dips for dinner" night, ha. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups organic pinto or black beans, cooked
2 cloves organic garlic
1/2 organic onion
1/2 ts good salt, or to taste
1/2 ts garlic powder
Handful cilantro
Toppings: (any or all)
1 cup shredded organic cheddar cheese
1/2 cup organic sour cream
1 bunch green onions, diced
1 tomato diced
sliced black olives

Process in a food processor: beans, garlic, onion, salt, garlic powder, and cilantro. Spoon mixture into a serving bowl. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Spread a layer of sour cream on top of cheese if desired. Sprinkle green onions, tomatoes, and olives on the very top. Bake for about 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees to warm through and melt cheese. Serve with organic tortilla chips!

Check out my guacamole football field

Just wanted to share a picture of the guacamole football field I made for a Super Bowl party yesterday. I saw a similar picture on pinterest and knew I had to make one! It's so easy too!
You just fill the center of your dish with guacamole and fill your end zones with some other dip. I chose salsa but you could also do queso or bean dip or whatever. Then using a frosting decorating bag, pipe on sour cream to make your field. If you don't have a frosting bag, you could use a zip lock bag (fill it with some sour cream and then snip off a tiny piece of a corner to pipe it on with). I placed a couple pieces of tomatoes around the field like they are players. Another idea I had that I would have done if I wasn't traveling with this was to take a baking sheet and cover it with colored paper, place the "field" on top and then place chips around the outside like they are the spectators. You could definitely do this for other sports parties too, make a baseball field, hockey rink, basketball court, etc. This is a great healthy option that's totally fun to bring to a party!

Organic Spicy Queso Dip

Doesn't that picture make you drool? Mmmm....well I'm drooling whether you are or not! This is so good! Make it along side my Copycat Baja Salsa and you have some awesome dipping action going on! Movie night, company, or just a fun dinner...try it, you'll love it.

Ingredients:
1 TB organic coconut oil or evoo
2 organic tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2-2 jalapenos (1/2 has a little spice, 2 has A LOT)
1 organic onion, diced
Pinch of good salt
8 oz block organic jack cheese, shredded

Directions:
Heat oil in a skillet. Add tomatoes, jalapeno, onion, and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until all the veggies are soft. Stir in cheese until melted. Scoop into a serving bowl. Serve immediately with some organic tortilla chips.

Copycat Baja Salsa

There are many things I miss about living in California....My family most, my friends, Trader Joes, Year round farmers markets....AND BAJA FRESH!!!! When I was pregnant with my oldest there was NOTHING else I wanted to eat except bean and cheese burritos from Baja. Literally I ate at Baja 5-6 times a week during that pregnancy....poor hubby! He was such a great hubby and indulged me...most of the time. There were times when he put his foot down and said I had to get some other nutrition into my body...which I am thankful for. So sometimes I would get a tostada from Baja ;) In all seriousness, I did have a smoothie and carrot juice for breakfast, and would limit myself (most days) to only eating at Baja once. That being said, we referred to our oldest as "Our little pinto bean" for quite a long time. Most women who crave something so much during pregnancy don't ever want to even smell that food again...yeah, not me. I would probably still eat there "almost" every day given the chance. Sadly for me the closest Baja to us is 5 hours away. That's actually probably a good thing for my waist line and overall health considering the white flour tortillas and most likely gmo corn tortillas =( Not to mention they probably also use canola oil which is highly gmo'd also. Soooo, now that I've talked myself into thinking it's a good thing I don't live near a Baja....I think I've nailed copy-catting the brown Baja Salsa! I did a lot of research into this recipe and kept finding copy cat recipes where the author would say "Well I've never actually eaten at Baja Fresh, but here's a recipe for the salsa...." Um, you've never eaten there but you're going to say this is a copy cat recipe? Weird. I found several recipes that included chicken broth. That too was weird to me. Granted, Baja could totally use chicken broth in theirs, I have no idea. But to me, salsa should be vegetarian. I also truly hope they do not put it in theirs since I ate it for years while a vegetarian =/ Either way, it doesn't matter. I combined several recipes I found and tweaked it myself and I really think I nailed it! This is in NO WAY the recipe Baja Fresh uses (though wouldn't it be hilarious if it was and I totally made it up??? HA!) But it VERY much tastes like theirs and satisfies my craving! Not to mention, I  know I'm using organic ingredients, Score! So if I haven't lost you after all this rambling, and I hope someone is still reading because this recipe is AWESOME....Here goes....


Copy Cat Baja Fresh Salsa (Organic Ingredients are ALWAYS recommended)
7 tomatoes, 1 diced, 6 sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 jalapeno
2 garlic cloves
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 onion
1/2 cup water
Handful cilantro
1 ts salt

Preheat broiler to High. Place the 6 tomatoes you sliced into rings on a baking sheet along with the jalapeno, stem removed. (Most recipes I saw actually did this on a grill. Well it's freezing outside, so I used a broiler =) I also tried a cast iron gridle once....didn't go that well and set off the smoke alarm one too many times while the kids were napping, so I axed that idea too) Place baking sheet under broiler and broil until blackened (about 20-30 minutes). Flip tomatoes and pepper, add one clove of garlic, and place back under the broiler again until blackened on the other side (Probably another 20 minutes but check often) Pull them out of the broiler and cool. Place tomatoes and pepper into blender with the other ingredients except the one diced tomato, and blend. Place diced tomato in a bowl and pour blended mixture over it, stir.
Go ahead and taste it if you want. I highly recommend letting the flavors blend for 6-18 hours in the fridge. The first batch I almost nailed tasted MUCH closer to right after sitting in the fridge for 18 hours. The 2nd batch (recipe above) tasted almost perfect right away, and tasted completely awesome after sitting in the fridge for awhile! Enjoy with some organic tortillas chips or on a burrito!

Note: Baja Fresh makes their salsa much more liquidy. If you would like it to be more like theirs, add more water, a little at a time until it's the desired consistency. I left mine not so liquidy so it would scoop on chips better. (Darn spell check really doesn't think "liquidy" is a word....seriously??? Whatever, ha.)

Herb Balsamic Tomatoes

Yummy, healthy, side dish. appetizer, or snack. My kids gobble these up!
Picture above is one tomato. I personally consider that one serving, but others may not. So I will write the recipe for one tomato/serving. Multiply as needed!

Ingredients:
1 tomato, sliced
A couple fresh basil leaves, chopped
A couple fresh mint leaves, chopped
A couple fresh parsley leaves, chopped
A pinch of fresh dill
Sea salt and ground pepper to taste
A drizzle of balsamic vinegar, organic
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, organic

Lay sliced tomatoes on a plate. Sprinkle with herbs, salt, and pepper. Drizzle with vinegar, and then oil. Enjoy!

Guacamole Egg Rolls

This is a variation of a recipe I saw at www.mommybistro.com She has some great comfort food recipes, you should check it out.
These are fun! Serve them with a side of salsa. As for the egg roll wrappers, I found egg roll/spring roll wrappers in the frozen section but after reading the ingredients I put them back. I would have put them back just for the fact that bleached white flour was the first ingredient, but scroll down a little and there was propylene glycol (aka anti-freeze, ick). Then there was Sodium Benzoate, which is a pretty bad preservative. So I went over to the Japanese isle and they had some spring roll wrappers with something like 4 ingredients, none of which were a deal breaker, so I got those. The only hitch with those is they are hard and crispy. I had some in my house a few years ago that I could not figure out how to use. Everytime I tried to wrap anything they would snap. Now, if you know how to use these you're probably shaking your head at me right now. If you don't, you have to soak them in water for a few before you try to wrap anything. Boy did that make an amazing difference =) The first thing I ever successfully wrapped with them were bananas, chocolate, and almond butter...THAT was super yummy! Though I've learned since then to use more than one wrapper for each roll so they are less likely to tear while wrapping and cooking. This recipe will call for two wrappers for each roll, feel free to use more, honestly three might be better, adjust accordingly. A ton come in the package I got so I didn't even come close to using them all.  Here's a pic of the ones I got:

Ingredients: (Makes 8 egg rolls)
16 egg roll or spring roll wrappers (Please read the ingredient label!!!)
2 avocados, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 organic onion, chopped
Handful of cilantro, chopped
1/2 ts sea salt
1 organic egg, beaten
Coconut or olive oil for searing or deep frying (See instructions below)

In a large bowl, gently stir together avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro and salt.

Fill a plate with water and place 2 wrappers in the water to soak for a minute. Remove from water and place on a sheet of wax paper. Place a couple of scoops of avocado mixture down the middle.

Fold the bottom flap up a quarter to halfway up the mixture. Brush the beaten egg along all the edges.

Fold the top flap down, and roll up. Repeat with all rolls.
Now at this point, you could go ahead and deep fry them if you so desire. If you do, coconut oil would be the healthiest choice.
Or, you could heat a skillet with about 2 TB of coconut oil. Sear all sides of the roll, and place roll on a baking sheet. Repeat with all rolls. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, flipping half way through.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

First off...wear gloves when dealing with jalapenos...I know better, and I didn't...ouch.
I love jalapeno poppers. I love that I can bake them instead of frying them and use organic ingredients. Have you ever ordered poppers at a restaurant and they taste like fryer grease? Eww, I'm gagging thinking about it. So not only are these better for you because you use organic ingredients, hot peppers are borderline high in pesticides. Plus organic eggs, flour, dairy products....you get the picture. Dairy and eggs are seriously not good for you if not organic....hormones, antibiotics, gross unhealthy living conditions for the animals. What I do when making these is make a HUGE batch and then I freeze them. If I want a snack, I can pop a few in the toaster oven and in 5-10 minutes I have yummy poppers to munch on! By all means you do not have to make as big of a batch as I do, it's really time consuming. But I really only do it maybe twice a year. So if you think of it that way, it's not that bad. I'll start off by telling you that the batch I made today took 2 hours, start to finish, including baking time. By the end I was getting a little annoyed by the whole process, but now I'm happy about the huge amount of poppers in my freezer! So it's all good ;)

Ingredients:
25 large jalapenos, organic (They don't have to be large, but I quarter them so I get more poppers this way)
2 packages organic cream cheese, softened (you could also use neufchatel, less fat and tastes pretty much the same)
1/2 cup mayonnaise Here's my recipe for homemade
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, organic
6 cups breadcrumbs (I don't buy breadcrumbs, for this I toasted 9 pieces of bread and threw it in the food processor with a ts salt and garlic powder)
5 eggs, organic
2 TB organic milk
2 cups organic flour, non-bleached


Slice jalapenos in half, scoop out seeds, slice each half in half. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Mix together the cream cheese, cheddar, and mayo. Place a small scoop on every piece of jalapeno.

Put the flour in one bowl. Eggs and milk, beaten, in another. Breadcrumbs in a third bowl.
Roll each piece around in the flour, then the egg mixture, and finally the breadcrumbs. Place on baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!

Veggie Sushi Rolls

I love Japanese food! Since moving to western NY from California, there is definitely a lack of great restaurants. I was very happy to learn how to make veggie rolls (like california rolls minus the un-kosher fish)

You will need:
Half a Cucumber, sliced very very thin
One Avocado, sliced thin
Sprouts, optional
A couple pieces of nori (roasted seaweed, available in the Japanese section at the grocery store)
One batch of sushi rice (see below)
3 tb, Wasabi powder, (please don't buy premade wasabi, awful awful ingredients!)
3 tb, Water
Sushi mat (amazon sells them)
Plastic wrap
Sesame seeds


First, make a batch of sushi rice:
2 cups, sushi rice. Lundberg makes an awesome organic non-gmo one!
2 cups, water
2 tb rice vinegar
2 tb sugar
1 tb salt

Place the rice into a fine strainer and run cool water over it. Continue until the water runs through clear.

Place the rice and 2 cups of water into a medium saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover(please don't forget to turn the temp down...your pot will thank you later...may mine rest in peace). Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes.

Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl and heat in a small pot for a few minutes until warm. Transfer the rice into a large wooden or glass mixing bowl and add the vinegar mixture. Fold thoroughly to combine and coat each grain of rice with the mixture. Allow to cool to room temperature before using to make sushi or sashimi. Continue to fold periodically until cool. You can also fan it with a paper plate, or a Japanese fan if you so happen to have one.

While the rice is cooking and cooling, prepare your veggies.
Cover your sushi mat in plastic wrap. Now I'm not keen on this, I don't like plastic wrap touching my food at all. Maybe wax paper would work, I don't know (let me know if you try it). If you really want to avoid this, you can make your rolls with the nori on the outside. I don't like the first thing I taste to be seaweed, so I put my nori on the inside. Here's how I do it:

Lay your sushi mat on the counter. Cut nori in half lengthwise. Lay nori on top of sushi mat, shiny side down. Spread 1/2-1 cup of sushi rice to cover nori. Sprinkle sesame seeds over rice. Flip it over so rice is now facing down. (to avoid using plastic wrap, skip this step) Lay pieces of cucumber, avocado, and sprouts all along the nori lengthwise. While holding veggies in place with your fingers, use mat to roll into a cylinder. Give it a couple squeezes all over. Unroll and set roll aside under a damp cloth on a cutting board. Repeat with the rest of the rice and fillings. Once done, lay all the rolls next to each other and use a long knife to cut into individual rolls (each roll should make 6 small ones).
Prepare wasabi. Taking equal parts of water and wasabi powder, mix together in a small bowl. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes. Organic soy sauce is widely available for dipping. I also like to Braggs Liquid Aminos. I don't consume soy normally, but organic fermented soy is the best choice for consuming soy.

Note: It may take a few times practicing making the rolls so they actually look like rolls instead of sandwiches, so don't plan to make this the first time for a dinner party =)