DIYEats How to; Live Deliciously

Archive for the ‘Other’ Category

You know, a couple of months ago I stumbled upon something called the Paleo Diet and in looking closer at the different types of things that can be used to make common every day goodies…..such as brownies or cookies and yup – even some different kinds of breads. Seriously, some of those recipes that I ran across looked like they would be super yummy and that’s where I came to this one. One wouldn’t think that these brownies don’t have any flour in them because the texture, density and the taste as all consistent with a light, chocolate chip chocolate cake. And here’s the kicker……they’re actually healthy!!!! But don’t tell the kiddos, what they don’t know won’t hurt em!

These brownies are really easy to make but one word of advice, if you have picky kiddos, you’ll want to peel the zucchini before shredding it. You still have the same consistency and great nutrients but once again…..what the kiddos don’t know won’t hurt em. LOL

So I shredded the zucchini and added almond butter (if the almond butter has settled at the bottom of the jar throw it in the food processor to make it the nice, creamy consistency that you’ll need) then I added an egg, raw honey and some vanilla extract and combined well.

Once everything was stirred in nicely, in a small bowl I combined the cocoa powder and the baking soda then added it to the wet ingredients.

I used dark chocolate chips, which this just seems to make the recipe! Those nice little morsels just complete the flavors in these brownies.

I baked these babies for about 40 minutes and pulled them out of the oven – oh they just smelled wonderful!!!

Whalla – who says you can’t “have your cake and eat it too”??? So yummy!!!!! Enjoy folks!!!!

Healthy Flour less Zucchini Brownies
From Delighted Momma

Ingredients:
1 cup of almond butter. You can make your own if you want to save a few bucks.
1 cup of grated or chopped zucchini. I used a shredder and then chopped it up into really small pieces.
1/3 cup of raw honey
1 egg
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of dark chocolate chips. I used gluten free chocolate chips.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix everything together. Pour into a greased 9×9 baking pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Here in the local area, we have a very well known little Greek restaurant where the food is just phenomenal. I haven’t had a bad meal from our little Greek restaurant ever! One of my favorite things about Greek food is the lemon rice that is served with so many of their dishes, that fresh lemony flavor just slays me every time, so  for several years now, I’ve hunted for the perfect lemon rice recipe……well, finally my dream has been realized…….and I shed a little tear!

A friend at work shared these recipes with me and I’ve actually made them several times since – they’re just fantastic and so easy!

I started with a little mayo and some Greek salad dressing. Mixing them together and then pouring the entire contents into a 1 gallon ziplock bag……this sat in the fridge for a few hours.

When I was ready to finish my dinner……my mouth was watering as I was getting my ingredients together for this….I started with a half cube of butter (yes I said a half of a cube of butter) but hang with me okay?

Once the luscious butter was all melted, I added rice and just gave it a good stir a couple of times.

Ok, now some chicken broth, garlic salt and of course…..my favorite seasoning…..fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Once the lemon has been stirred into the mixture, be sure you don’t stir any more as it will make the rice mushy….eww! Cover it all and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.

While the rice is doing the happy dance on the stove, fire up the grill and cook your chicken. 4 – 5 minutes on each side for breast tenders…..or until they have a golden brown finish…..like these.

Throw it all on a plate and enjoy folks…….a wonderful, easy, Greek meal doesn’t require tons of time in the kitchen.

What’s your favorite Greek dish….I would love to know!

Grilled Greek Chicken
Ingredients:
1 C Kraft Greek Dressing
1/2 C Mayonnaise

Mix dressing and mayo together in mixing bowl, and place both the mayo mixture and chicken in a gallon ziplock back. Marinade for 3-5 hours.

Lemon Rice
Ingredients:
1 cube Imperial Margarine
1 cup reg long grain rice (not instant)
1 can Swanson’ chicken broth
1/3 C lemon juice
Garlic salt and pepper

Melt margarine in med sauce pan and add rice. Sprinkle on garlic salt (about 2-3 shakes) and pepper (2-3 shakes). Coat rice thoroughly, stirring frequently but not browning.

Slowly add can of chicken broth. Add lemon juice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until cooked through. DO NOT stir rice once you have covered it – this makes it mushy. Takes about 20-25 minutes total.

This seems to be the season where everyone is catching and flu and/or colds, so I thought it would be a good idea to help my family ramp up their immunities with some good old fashioned fruit and honey in a smoothie. So Londyn, my granddaughter made a face and said “I don’t like it”, but Mr. and I both thought it was quite good. (Back to the drawing board with Londyn). But in the mean time, this smoothie recipe turned out super good and it only took a couple of minutes to make.

Items in the agenda are orange juice, peach Greek yogurt, frozen peaches, honey, cinnamon and pecans.

I threw everything into the blender and blended until everything was nice and creamy…….very refreshing and tasty!!!!

Peach Smoothies

Ingredients:
2 C orange juice
2 5 oz containers peach Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 C pecans

Directions:
Place all ingredients in the blender and pulse until creamy. Makes 4 Servings.

Awhile back, I remember seeing an article claiming the butter isn’t actually the “bad guy” that it’s been made out to be in years past, in fact that article in turn claimed that butter contains some “good for you” nutrients and vitamins. Now, I can’t seem to find the same article (of course), but there is a lot of really good information out there on the web, needless to say, Google was my first resource.  I wanted to do a comparison between margarine and butter so that I could see firsthand how they hold up against one another. My findings were pretty interesting to say the least. Now the tricky part comes in, where I am about to attempt to sound like I know what I’m talking about. Now I’m going to take an educated approach to this and try to lay out the differences.

I’ll start with Margarine (interesting substance really, tries to be like butter, taste like butter – but just can’t quite get there)

Margarine is vegetable oil, it is 70% fat, contains soybean and partially hydrogenated soybean. Nutritionally, margarine only contains about 87 calories per tablespoon and is a good source of Vitamin A.  However, margarine is high in saturated fat and it contains trans fat. Nutritionally, it contains about 500 international Units (IU) of Vitamin A along with lots of fats, for instance 1.9 grams of saturated fat, 2 grams of trans fatty acids as well as some minerals, i.e. 98 milligrams of sodium (YOW!), it does contain some potassium, a total of 6.4 milligrams along with 1 milligram of calcium. This is all in one itty bitty little tablespoon.

Moving on to butter which is made from the cream that comes from milk. And it’s one of my favorite staples. And we’re all about to partake heavily through the next couple of months.

Butter (salted) contains about 100 calories per tablespoon, is high in saturated fat, but doesn’t contain any trans fats. Vitamins contained in butter are Vitamin A at 350 IU, Vitamin D at 7.8 IU, and 2.6 milligrams of Choline (I’m not sure what that is), there is also 3.4 milligrams of calcium and 3.4 milligrams of potassium.

Just a little side note, people who have degenerative eye diseases are heavily advised to avoid using margarine because of the trans fats and the high levels of Vitamin A which speeds up the progression of the disease.

Personally, I’m going to continue to use butter in my cooking adventures. In fact, I can’t remember the last time that margarine was even in the house. Butter tastes better too!

Sources: Butter: retrieved from http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/0/2

Margarine:  http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/636/2