Overnight Oatmeal

I absolutely LOVE anything with oatmeal. I love it. Something I don't really care for? Yogurt. I cant bring myself to consume more than a couple spoonfuls. I have been trying to limit the dairy products we eat. We use almond milk now and eat a lot less cheese. However, I have been trying my hardest to eat more yogurt for the benefits of the probiotics. This recipe has been a life saver. I absolutely love it but I understand if others do not share my affections. At first, Danny did not like the idea of "cold oatmeal." For others, it could be a texture thing. I do not care. I will say it again- I love this stuff.

Lucky for me, Katelyn eats this stuff up like it is chocolate pudding. And Danny eats it for breakfast often and I catch him snacking on it later as well. He brought home a tub of yogurt the other day and asked me to make another batch (it had been out of stock for less than 24 hours). I mix up a tub of it as a "plain" base and add it other things later if I want.

Ingredients, EXTREMELY APPROXIMATE, I never measure:

- 1 cup oatmeal
- 2 T flaxseed
- 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (I like vanilla as opposed to "plain" when doing this)
- 1/4 cup almond milk

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together in a airtight container. Allow to sit overnight so oatmeal can soften. Eat.

I have played around with the proportions of yogurt to oatmeal to milk a lot. I finally decided on a more oatmeal-dense mix. That way, if one of us prefers it to be more yogurt filled, or runny with milk, they can add it in later in their personal bowl. Below are some mix ins we like:

- Fruit (I love strawberries and blueberries with this)
- a Dash or two of cinnamon... really really good.
- a few chocolate chips for those times I am desperate for some dessert

HEALTHY Creamy Cauliflower "Alfredo" Sauce

Oh man. I pinned this recipe over a year ago and I am so mad I waited so long to try it. I was scared. The thought of blended up cauliflower trying to pass itself off as something as delicious and fattening as alfredo sauce made me extremely skeptical. After watching some food hippy documentaries on Netflix Dan and I have become more dedicated to trying to find more and more healthy food recipes and alternatives. Also, Danny has been having some health issues again lately and needs to be on more of a "anti-inflammatory diet." After seeing that cauliflower was on the list of highly suggested foods we started buying tons of it. But one can only handle so much steamed cauliflower with pepper. A light bulb came when I remembered this pin. I warned Danny that it sounded really weird and might taste so as well but he asked me to try making it anyway.

I used my Magic Bullet to blend the cauliflower and it creamed it perfectly! We were very impressed with the results. It does not taste exactly like alfredo sauce but it is pretty close. I think I will call it a "creamy garlic sauce" when presenting it to our children in the future and never divulge the secret. I doubt anyone could guess it is basically just steamed cauliflower either! Below is a link and the recipe. The lady uses it in other recipes and I am SOOO excited about trying this more.

A huge BONUS to keep in mind, and a huge reason behind why I pinned this: "A half cup of Alfredo is 500 calories, a half cup of this alfredo sauce is only 50." WHAT????? 500 vs 50? 1/10th the amount of calories PLUS it is ALL nutrients and not ALLLLLLLL fat? SOLD. Sold a millions times over. I will never use normal alfredo again.

http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 8 large cloves garlic, minced (Ok.... I used like 4-5 cloves and we both agreed it could use a little less garlic.. maybe just 3 cloves next time for me)
• 2 tablespoons butter (I just used olive oil for this instead of butter)
• 5-6 cups cauliflower florets (a large head of cauliflower was the perfect measurement)
• 6-7 cups vegetable broth or water (I was out of veg broth, so I did half chicken broth, half water)
• 1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• ½ teaspoon pepper ( or more to taste)
• ½ cup milk (or more to taste)
• ***** I added about a teaspoon or less of italian seasoning... completely optional
• ******I also blended up 1/3 onion

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Garlic: Saute the minced garlic with the butter in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook for several minutes or until the garlic is soft and fragrant but not browned (browned or burnt garlic will taste bitter). Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Cauliflower: Bring the water or vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. Do not drain.
3. Puree: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cauliflower pieces to the blender. Add 1 cup vegetable broth or cooking liquid, sauteed garlic/butter, salt, pepper, and milk. Blend or puree for several minutes until the sauce is very smooth, adding more broth or milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Serve hot! If the sauce starts to look dry, add a few drops of water, milk, or olive oil.

NOTES FROM AUTHOR

"I like to add a little bit of olive oil for the flavor and to help keep the sauce really smooth. Several other readers have mentioned that they really liked the addition of Parmesan cheese as well."

Quinoa Salad

So I just made the best salad.  I used this recipe for southwestern chopped salad: http://damndelicious.net/2014/01/10/southwestern-chopped-salad-cilantro-lime-dressing/

I didn't have any black beans though, so I didn't put those in.  Then I made some quinoa using the cafe rio recipe in my rice cooker.  I don't have a link to that I got it from Rach.

Here's where it gets a little weird for normal people, I put the quinoa on my salad and then put the dressing on. MMMMMMmmm I thought it was so good.  Kyle wasn't such a fan, but the quinoa gives it a yummy crunch that I loved.  I would also reccommend letting the dressing sit overnight before using it. I didn't love it the first day but the next day it was so good!  I guess it gets better the longer it sits.  I also added a tiny bit of ranch and a little honey  to the dressing in an attempt to make it more appealing to my family.  My kids just ate the salad with ranch, and the quinoa on the side.  Anyway, it was fun to try something a little different from our normal meal rotation.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Chili, burritos, dip, or rice topper??

I remember pinning this recipe a while ago but never got around to trying it. Last Sunday, my cousins were talking about how they make it all the time and love it. However, they have made a few changes to the Pinterest recipe. The Pinterest recipe is called "Creamy chicken chili." My cousins call it "Crockpot Burritos." On the Pinterest links, they eat it as chili with tortilla chips or over rice as a burrito bowl. My cousins add the rice to the crock pot mix and eat it as a burrito filling. All options are amazing.

Below is the link to the blog and the recipe:

http://www.startrecipes.com/2014/01/crock-pot-cream-cheese-chicken-chile.html

2 chicken breasts, still frozen 
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can corn kernels, do not drain 
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix 
1 T cumin
1 t chili powder
1 t onion powder 
1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese

Stir together and cook in crock pot for 6-8 hours. 


HERE.... is what I added to the recipe... of course:

- Small diced onion
- Diced green pepper (added about 30 minutes before finishing) 
- Diced red pepper  (added about 30 minutes before finishing) 
- 1-2 T taco seasoning
- 2-3 cups cooked rice (also added 30 minutes before finishing) 
- Fresh cilantro (right before  serving)

--- topped with hot sauce of course! but only on my plate :)

I was unsure whether or not I would follow my cousins' advice and add cooked rice to the mix. But when I saw how soupy it was looking I decided to go for it. I really liked it actually. I added the peppers later so they would not turn to mush. I like to have a slight crisp to them still. I loved the peppers in there as well. I decided to add some taco seasoning to give it some pep... it was tasting somewhat boring to me. I really liked how easy this meal was and it was yummy! I cooked extra rice and made GF tortillas. Danny ate it over rice and I ate it as a burrito filling.  Adult and kid approved!