Refried Beans

Here is my recipe for homemade refried beans. These taste a lot better than store bought plus you know what you are getting/eating. I love to eat refried beans especially now I'm trying to stay vegan. Refried beans for soft taco's or just some dip for some nacho chips is always good to have around. So here is the recipe

Ingredients:

1 Can of Pinto Beans Drained and Rinsed
1 Can of Borlotti Beans Drained and Rinsed
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Small Onion, Chopped
2 Tsp of Cumin
1 Tsp of Smoked Paprika
1//2 Tsp of Salt
Pepper.
Some Organic Sunflower oil (or oil of your choice)

You can use more of less of the Cumin or Paprika if you choose..The measurements that I put is just the way I like it.

Directions:

Chop the onion and garlic, put some oil in pan and bring it to warm then add onion and garlic and saute for about 3 mins on medium heat. Then add the beans, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and saute for a further 5-8 mins. Once done add to a food processor and blend till smooth (add about a tbsp of oil or butter to make it more creamy).

Enjoy.

Pay Attention To What Your Kids Are Eating!

As parents it's out duty and our responsibility to know what our kids are eating. Their health is our responsibility. If they have a failing diet it's because we are not taking control. If our kids are sick all the time or are constantly in the hospital then parent's it's time to change what your kids are eating. Kids should have the healthiest immune systems and be healthy themselves because they are still young and fresh and their bodies should not be polluted with toxins and junk at such early ages. If we start feeding our kids with food loaded with hormones, toxins and chemicals then its no wonder they have issues and are constantly sick, for example colds, runny noses, blocked ears, constant skin irritations etc. These are pretty much all contributed from a poor diet. Something to think about. 

This picture not only applies to US schools but can be applied to the UK schooling system as well as households no matter what country. 

English Muffin Pizza's

This is a simple snack for the kids, kids and their friends, friends or yourself. Can also be great for a quick lunch if your on the go. Simple to make and great tasting.

English Muffin Pizzas

Ingredients:

English Muffin
Tomato Paste
Basil
Oregano
Red Onion
Slice Tomato
Pepperoni
Fresh Mozzarella

Just have fun with the toppings. Easy. Enjoy.

Easy Lunch

Want something quick and easy for lunch especially after you just made all that pesto. Here is something easy to make if you are in a hurry or want a lite lunch.

Ingredients: 

Nice Crusty Bread
Pesto (check out my recipe on here)
Chorizo (if you want)
Tomato
Olive Oil
Pepper

Directions:

Toast the bread, spread with pesto, add the chorizo, add a slice of tomato, drizzle with olive oil and pepper to taste.

Grilled Chicken and Bacon Sandwich

Ok, so I know this isn't the norm of my blog but I decided to make it anyways. It will add to a selection of already great recipes/foods. This is for someone that is wanting to make a great sandwich for lunch or someone that is looking for something else to eat besides whats on here already.

Don't judge to much as I haven't had bacon in like over 6 months haha. I believe if you eat those types of food sparingly its alright to do. You shouldn't really eat it at all of course but if you do, sparingly is the key.

I made a great tasting sandwich though for you to read about and of course try.

Chicken and Bacon Sandwich...pretty simple

Ingredients:

2 pieces of wholewheat bread
2 or 3 slices of tomato
Applewood smoked cheddar cheese (I used)
Organic or Free Range Chicken breast strips (grilled)
3 Strips of bacon (cooked)
Spicy Mayo or Plain Mayo
Spicy Mustard
Lettuce (not iceburg, its like 90% water) I found out I had no lettuce left haha

Make the way you want and Enjoy :) Its really great. Remember when using a cheese look for a really mature or sharp cheddar. That will give it a great kick/taste.

Summer Avocado Salad

Today was another hot day here where I live so I decided to do something light and fresh for dinner. What I came up with was Summer Avocado Salad. Its really light and great tasting. Whats more is you really do not need salad dressing for it because of the flavors mixing together. I know you will really enjoy this on a hot day or just feeling like having something different for dinner or a lunch.

Ingredients:

2 Avocado
1 packet of Cherry Tomatoes
Cilantro (Coriander)
1 Cucumber
1 Small Red Onion
1 Can of Black Beans (Drained and Rinsed)
2 Limes
Half of a jalapeno (if you choose)
Salt
Pepper



Directions:

De-seed and dice the avocado. Peel cucumber and chop into small cubes. Dice the red onion. Dice jalapeno. Once everything is chopped the way you want it, put into a bowl, then add cherry tomatoes. Drain and rinse the black beans, add to salad. Small handful of cilantro (coriander) finely chopped, add to salad. Cut the limes in half and juice over salad. Add pepper and salt to taste.

Serves 4-5

     

Now your Finished :) ENJOY

Chicken Soft Taco's

Tonight I was craving some Mexican food so I decided to make Chicken Soft Tacos. I think it had to do with the weather getting warmer, I'm not sure. Tonight instead of using packet taco seasoning I would create my own. This is pretty easy to do if you know the basic Mexican ingredients. There are a lot of different ways to do this of course. I came up with this one and I like it.

If you want to make some taco seasoning and jar it you can because its only spices. If you want to make some fresh stuff to use right now like I did tonight then it will be a mix of spice and veg.

I didn't have any oregano left so I couldn't add that in which is a bummer because its a main ingredient in my opinion esp for Mexican food.

So here is what I came up with.

For dried taco seasoning that you can store use the following.

Ingredients for seasoning:

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried cilantro or corriander (UK)
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Direction:

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

For making fresh and using now use the following (which I did tonight)

Ingredients For Seasoning:

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 4 crushed garlic cloves
• 1/2 white onion (diced or chopped)
• Small bunch of cilantro or corriander (UK)
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

2-3 Chicken Breast (cut into small chunks)

Directions:

Same as above except you will be using it with chicken or beef. What I did was use chicken. 2-3 Chicken breast, diced. Warm a deep frying pan with about a tablespoon of sunflower or veg oil. Put in the chicken, cook for about 2-3 mins of medium-high heat. Then add your spice mix and mix. Cook for about another 10 mins on a low heat. You don't want to cook to long on a high heat because you will burn the spice and garlic. 

Serves 3-4

Once done garnish with Diced Tomatoes, Cheese, Sour Cream, Cilantro, Lettuce and my Homemade Salsa (which you can find the recipe for in this blog) 

Enjoy :)

The Greatest Potato Salad

Ever get a craving for some awesome potato salad and either don't know how to make some or know that store bought isn't great??

I went to a get together this Sunday at my church and I decided to bring my potato salad.
Have you ever been to a get together and just know that your potato salad would be awesome with the rest of the food?? That was my thoughts this time. I knew it would be great to bring..especially since there are always like 4 or 5 other potato salads and they are either store bought with corn and green beans or someones creation of potatoes and mayo. No thought or creativity at all. Why would you want to eat bland potato salad. It would put you off potato salad for a very long time if not the rest of your life and that one awesome side would be missing from great tasting BBQ for ever.

If you guys would like to try a really great recipe then why not try mine the next time you BBQ or whenever you want some potato salad.

Ingredients:

5lbs (2kg) of potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into small cubes. You can cut them as you choose.

1/4 cup White wine vinegar

2 cups of Mayo

3 ribs of celery (about 1 cup finely chopped)

1/2 cup pickle mustard UK, in the US sweet pickle relish

1/3 cup minced red onion

1/4 cup parsley leaves

1 1/2 tsp celery seed

1 tsp powdered mustard

Black pepper

4 Hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut (if you choose)

What you want to do is wash, peel and cut potatoes. Place the potatoes in a large pot cover by inch of water, add a little salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling simmer for about 6-8mins (till you can slip a knife into and out of the center of the potato without resistance).

While the potatoes are simmering. You can boil the eggs (if you are having them) for about 7-8 mins. The potatoes and eggs will be done at the same time. While the potatoes and eggs are cooking place the rest of the ingredients (minus the vinegar) in a boil and mix.

Once the potatoes are done drain them. Place potatoes into a boil and add the 1/4 cup of vinegar. Let the potatoes cool down for about 20 mins. During this time you can peel your eggs and cut them how you want and add them to the mix if you choose. Once the potatoes have cooled mix into potatoes. Then place in the fridge for about an hour before serving.

If you have any questions let me know.

ENJOY :)

Serves 6-8

Not Just Pancakes

Thinking about breakfast at this time of night and what a better way to start your day than to have some pancakes. I don't know about you but I like my pancakes to be pretty fluffy yet not so thick and heavy feeling. I have tasted many kinds in my time and I can say that this recipe is my favorite so far.

Here is a recipe I whipped up for these awesome pancakes.

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

1 3/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons baking powder

3 tablespoon melted butter

2 tablespoon of sugar (you can do less if you choose)

1 tsp of vanilla

2 eggs, lightly beaten 

A pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix together the milk, melted butter and eggs. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Heat a lightly greased griddle, skillet or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the pan you are using, you can use the 1/4 cup for the batter for each pancake. Brown on both sides. Serve with maple syrup and fresh blueberries, strawberries or bananas. 

Serves 4

Let me know what you guys think after you give it a try. 

Chicken Salad

So I should have posted this last night but I forgot to. Here I have a simple chicken and green salad. Its really simple to make and healthy. All it is is some lettuce, spinach (but you cant see it haha), carrots, apples, one boiled egg cut in half and glazed chicken breast topped with olive oil and balsamic. You can add whatever else you would like to it of course and make it your own.

Sometimes in my family we just go a few nights eating salad. It can fill you up and its just a great healthy meal. I think more of this needs to be eaten by people today.

What are your thoughts and are you eating enough salad.

Brown rice and Bean Burrito

Ok so tonight I had a brown rice and bean burrito. Pretty simple to make and pretty filling. Great healthy substitute to beef and bean.

All I did was made some organic brown rice, warmed up some re-fried beans, chopped some lettuce, had some salsa already, grated some cheese and chopped some jalapenos. Next just warmed up a tortilla and put all those ingredients in, wrapped it up and ate. Sorry no picture tonight but it was pretty damn good. You should give it a try for a quick dinner and a filling one. I had two and that was good enough.

Just a dinner I wanted to share with you all tonight. Oh and my son loves it as well..Simple, easy and cheap.

Brown rice stir fry

Awesome tasting healthy dinner for you to try. It will give you great energy and protein for those of you who need it. Great after workouts. Its great for getting the "full satisfied" feeling after you eat instead of leaving you thinking what can I have next. 

So tonight for dinner I made basically a stir fry again. Simple ingredients. I had some left over veg in the fridge that I used. 

Ingredients 

1 Sweet Red Pepper (Chopped)

3 Spring Onions (Chopped)

1 Carrot (Chopped)

2 Chicken Breast

1-2 Cups of Organic Brown Rice

Tamari Sauce

First I diced a sweet pepper, spring onion and a carrot. Then I again filleted a chicken breast which I then cut into small cubes. Once done with that I put a cup of organic brown rice in a pain (First rinse). Put water about an inch above the rice. Bring that to a boil and let simmer for 20 mins. When there is about 5-10 mins left on the rice put about a tbs of oil in a wok/deep frying pan on high heat. Then add the chicken, cook for about 2-3 mins then add the veg, again 2-3 mins. I then added some Tamari sauce instead of Soy sauce. I like the flavor of Tamari better. By the time this is all cooked your rice will be done. Drain the rice. What I did at this point is throw the rice in with the mix, add a bit more Tamari and done. 

Again Simple dinner takes about 30 mins to make. 

End Result Serves 4-6

Easy Chow Mein

Hey guys so this is my Easy Chow Mein I made for lunch. Basically left overs veg and some chow mein sauce. 

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breast

1 tbsp oil

1 Red Bell Pepper

1/2 Red Onion 

1 Packet of Chow Mein Sauce

What I did was. Diced a pepper and half a red onion. Fillet a chicken breast and cut it into small cubes. Took a tbs of oil put it in a wok/deep frying pan on high heat. Once that became hot enough I put in the chicken. Chicken cooked for about 2-3mins. Then added the veg for another 2-3 mins. Then add the chow mein sauce for another 1-2 mins.

Before the veg and chicken start cooking I turned on and heated a pot of water. Once boiling I turned off the heat and add egg noodles or chow mein noodles. Let it sit in the hot water for about 5mins. 

By this point everything will be done around the same time. Drain the noodles. I then added them to my chicken and veg and mixed it all. 

Simple healthy lunch. Cheaper and taste better then getting it from a Chinese restaurant  in my opinion. 

End result. 

Serves 4