Crockpot Lentil Chili

Ingredients

2 cups of lentils of your choice ( I used 1 cup red and 1 cup brown cause that is what I had on hand)

1 can of diced tomatoes (I used flavored with oregano)

5 cups of water plus chicken cubes (or chicken stock if you are not using chicken cubes) (using low sodium chicken broth would be healthier too, just a thought)

2 tablespoons Chili powder

garlic cloves ( I love garlic so I put a lot in, it's up to you how much garlic you want)

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 tsp Cumin (optional)

1 can of garbanzo beans

Jalapeno if you like the heat

Cilantro (optional) Serve as a topping
Avocado (use as a topping, optional)

Get your crockpot out and ready. Then put the lentils and the chicken stock or water in there if your using chicken cubes. Put your garlic in if you are using it. Put all your seasonings in except salt, do not put salt in with lentils while you are cooking because it will make your lentils tough. Next put your onions and green peppers in and let that go on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. Before your ready to serve dump the garbanzo beans in there and or black beans if you want those too. 

Serve and top with nonfat Greek yogurt, sour cream, and cheese. You can also serve with cilantro. 

No Bake Peanut Butter Balls

So Easy and a Healthy Treat!! Make your Balls Your Way!!

ingredients

1/4 cup of peanut butter
1/4 cup of almond butter
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup of powdered milk or crushed graham crackers
1 tbsp of chia seeds
3 tbsp of agave nectar or honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1 tbsp of coconut oil



Mix everything together in a bowl, and use your fingers and hands to mush together, come on get dirty lol! If it's too sticky just put in some more powdered milk or crushed graham crackers, or crushed pretzels if your feeling zingy!

Play around with this recipe and I guarantee you will have some awesome tasty balls. Instead of graham crackers use crushed pretzels for salty sweet balls, or instead of almond butter use chocolate peanut butter for some chocolate balls, instead of cinnamon use a tsp of vanilla. The point is use some imagination when it comes to your balls and just have fun with it. You could even make some Xmas balls and after rolling them dip them into some Xmas sprinkles for some jolly Xmas balls. Have fun and enjoy your balls!

Lavender Sugar Plum Peach Chia Jam

What in the world has gotten into me, why am I making all these delicious jams? I don't know. I think it started with, "hey I'm out of jam," and "wow, I have a ton of chia seeds (sale), then, me thinking, "hey don't chia seeds gel up," and "gee I have a ton of fruit," which led to boiling fruit then adding the chia then whala, homemade jam with less sugar, real ingredients, real fruit and chia. Like I am actually getting omega 3's while eating this yummy jam on my toast, I'll take it, then give it to my family. Homemade jam = happy healthy family. And it's fun, simple and easy to make. No need for pectin, preservatives, gelatin, yuk, this jam will go so fast you don't need all those things. So here goes with the longest title ever...............

Lavender Sugar Plum Peach Chia Jam

1-2 cups of Sugar Plums (with our without the fairy) personally I like it with a bit of Fairy lol
2 peaches
2 tbsp. of lavender buds (or use lavender tea if you don't have 100 % lavender) try it, you never know
1 cup stevia
1 cup real sugar
1/2 cup of chia seeds
1 cup of water
1 tsp agar agar powder (what the hell is this? see below)

put everything except agar agar in a pot and simmer for ten min. Strain all liquid after 10 min, and blend all the chunks out, put back in pot with liquid and add the agar powder, boil for one min, then put in a not metallic glass bowl and let cool in fridge, in the morning or whenever put in mason jars. Give some to people if you love them :)
Notes:
This is a very versitle recipe, you could use lemon thyme to season (just put in with the ingredients with everything else) or, you could leave out the lavender all together. You could even use regular plums if you can't find sugar plums. Oh and yeah, what the hell is agar agar powder...........

What is agar?
Agar (or Agar Agar), sometimes referred to as kanten, is a gelling agent coming from a South East Asian seaweed. It is used for scientific purposes (in biology for instance), as a filler in paper sizing fabric and as a clarifying agent in brewing. Agar can also be used as a laxative (it’s 80-percent fiber) and as an appetite suppressant.
And it’s of course an amazing culinary ingredient. It’s a vegetarian gelatin substitute, a thickener for soups, in fruits preserves, ice cream and others desserts.

Where can you find agar?
Agar is available in health food stores, in supermarket that carry health food lines, in Asian grocery stores and online.
Health Benefits
Agar has no calories, no carbs, no sugar, no fat and is loaded with fiber. It’s free from starch, soy, corn, gluten, yeast, wheat, milk, egg and preservatives.
It absorbs glucose in the stomach, passes through digestive system quickly and inhibits the body from retaining and storing excess fat. Its water absorbing properties also aids in waste elimination. Agar absorbs bile, and by doing so, causes the body to dissolve more cholesterol.
A great substitute to gelatin
Agar is the perfect substitute to traditional gelatin. It’s made from a plant source rather than from an animal one. That makes it suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets, and other diet restrictions.
Agar has no taste, no odor and no color, which makes it pretty convenient to use. It sets more firmly than gelatin, and stays firm even when the temperature heats up.
Though agar is a great substitute to gelatin, don’t expect the same results when replacing gelatin with agar in a recipe. First, it doesn’t give the same texture. Gelatin can give a «creamy» texture whereas agar gives a firmer texture. And agar is much more powerful than gelatin : 1 teaspoon agar powder is equivalent to 8 teaspoon gelatin powder.
How to use Agar

• The most important thing to know is that agar needs to be first dissolved in water (or another liquid like milk, fruit juices, tea, stock…) and then brought to a boil. It will set as the ingredients cool down. You can not add agar flakes or powder as it is in your food.

• You should definitively follow the package directions and the recipe to determine which quantity to use. But here is a basic rule you can adapt : use 1 tablespoon agar flakes to thicken 1 cup of liquid, and 1 teaspoon agar powder to thicken 1 cup of liquid.

Here is the basic «recipe» to use if you can’t boil your liquid directly.

1. Dissolve 1 tbsp agar flakes or 1 tsp agar powder in 4 tbsp hot water
2. Bring water to a boil
3. Simmer for 1 to 5 minutes for powder and 10 to 15 minutes for flakes
4. Mix well with warmed ingredients
5. Let it cool to set agar.

Vanilla chia cherry rhubarb jam

Ingredients
1/2 cup chia seeds
2 cups chopped ruhbarb
2 cups chopped cherries
2 cups stevia or 3/4 cup agave nectar or 3/4 cups honey

What to do
Throw everything in a pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Put in a bowl and let cool, then scoop in jars in the morning. You could also use any other type of fruit. Use over yogurt" over brownies or on toast.

Amaranth Protien Bars

This was my first time making protein bars, this recipe turned out awesome, too awesome, since they are now almost gone, but making more is a snap


Here are the ingredients, I didn't measure anything so Just eyeball it, it's a very forgiving recipe so if you muff up don't worry, just add more of this or that to the correct consistency.

Ingredients
1 cup of Amaranth (toasted and popped)
3-4 tbsp. of ground flax
1 cup of millet
1/2 cup of chia seeds
1/2 cup of sesame seeds (raw or toasted)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of pumpkin seeds (or nuts of your choice) if you pick big nuts chop them first
1 cup of dried cranberries or dried raisins or dried fruit of your choice, chop if need be, chopped dates would be good in this too
a handful or two of very small chocolate chips
1- 1.5 cups of quick cooking oats

For the Sticky Sauce
8 tbsp. of honey
8 tbsp. of agave nectar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 stick of butter (you could also use a cup of coconut oil, or 1/2 cup of olive oil)

It's so Simple
In a pan, toast the amaranth a little bit at a time, around 1/4 cup as to heat evenly and pop them, it's like tiny popcorn, they turn white when popped, you wont be able to pop all of them but if you get most that is good, do not use any oil, just a dry pan, after it's popped put into a mixing bowl. Now do the same to the millet but just toast (millet does not pop). Your just trying to get a nice toasted flavor out of these grains. Transfer millet into same mixing bowl with amaranth. Mix into the same bowl, the ground flax, chia seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (or nuts), oats, dried fruit and chocolate (yum). In a saucepan (the same one used for popping/toasting grains) put in the ingredients for the sticky sauce, wait till it bubbles and become somewhat thick, pour sauce into mixing bowl with all the other ingredients and mix until it's thick, if it's still a bit wet add more dry ingredients. Scoop into a square pan and pat down until it's the thickness you desire and put in fridge to cool completely. These wont get really hard but hard enough to make into squares and eat without falling apart. If you would like them harder, I guess you could put in the oven for a bit around 350 for 10 min.

This is a really versatile recipe, play around with it and post comments of what has worked and what hasn't. Enjoy
The protein in these bars mostly comes from the amaranth, containing 26 gams of protein in 1 cup, the millet about 6 grams. The chia in this recipe is around 5 grams.
A little tidbit about Amaranth

Amaranth’s Health Benefits

Amaranth contains more than three times the average amount of calcium and is also high in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.  It’s also the only grain documented to contain Vitamin C.  Very little research has been conducted on amaranth’s beneficial properties, but the studies that have focused on amaranth’s role in a healthy diet have revealed three very important reasons to add it to your diet.
It’s a protein powerhouse.  At about 13-14%, it easily trumps the protein content of most other grains.  You may hear the protein in amaranth referred to as “complete” because it contains lysine, an amino acid missing or negligible in many grains.  One of the first studies to showcase amaranth’s protein power took place in Peru in the late 1980s.  Children were fed toasted amaranth flour, popped amaranth grain, and amaranth flakes as the source of all dietary protein and fat, and as 50% of their daily energy requirements, then later fed a mix of amaranth and corn in various forms.  Because researchers focused on “end results” so to speak, we’ll gloss over the details and sum up their findings with this key quote:  “If amaranths were available at a reasonable cost, they could represent a major component of the diets of children in the developing world…”
Amaranth is also Gluten Free
It’s good for your heart.  Amaranth has shown potential as a cholesterol-lowing whole grain in several studies conducted over the past 14 years.
First, in 1996, researchers from the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Madison, WI conducted studies that showed the healthy oil in amaranth could significantly reduce total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in 6-week-old female chickens.  This was great news for chickens, but what about us humans?  Cut to 2003, when researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada found that amaranth can be a rich dietary source of phytosterols, which have cholesterol-lowering properties.  Just a few years later, in 2007, Russian researchers drew from the 1996 study to determine whether or not amaranth would also show benefits for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD).  Patients who presented with coronary heart disease and hypertension not only showed benefits from the inclusion of amaranth in their diets, researchers also saw a significant decrease in the amounts of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol.

Link to millet info: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=53

Body Butter

Sounds Good enough to Eat

This is my homemade body butter, it was a success (I think?). I have never made body butter so this is all new to me but here is my recipe. I thought at first it was going to be too oily, it looks thick but when you put it in your hands it litterly melts into butter. I slathered it on thinking I made a mistake but my skin actually drank it up and left me not feeling oily at all, weird. Dont' know if that is what is supposed to happen or not? My skin is so soft after using this, I smell awesome too.

So here is the recipe:

Step 1. Four ingredients, put into double boiler
2 oz coco butter
3-4 oz of shea butter
1/2 cup of coconut oil
2 tbsp of beeswax grated

Step 2. after you turn off the heat and all the above is melted you can add the oils you have chosen (only using 1/2 cup), you can combine any oils as long as they all add up to 1/2 cup. You can use meadowfoam, jojoba, I used olive oil and avocado oil.

Step 3. wait until oils and butters have cooled about 5 min then add the fragrance, vitamin E oil and aloe vera

For the fragrance I used all of the ones listed below. They are safe grade true essential oils (make sure they are just not fragrance oils but essential oils that can be used on skin). I am using these oils not only for scent but to help fight any bacteria or fungus that may want to enter my concoction, basically they help against any icky organisms. Also, a note here, we are not adding any water to this recipe therefore there is no need to add any preservatives. If you add water you must use a commercial grade preservative. I am still using these precautionary essential oils and keeping mine in the fridge but there is no need, I am just anal lol. You don't have to use any essential oils, it's all up to you what you want to smell like. Wish there was a bacon essential oils as my husband would be attracted to me all day, haha, lol.

If you have a double boiler great, if not just fill a big pot with about 2 cups of water and get a smaller pot and put it inside the bigger pot. one key point here is that I did not use any water for this recipe therefore you do not need to add any preservatives. Put all the first 4 ingredients into the double boiler and melt all the way (don't let it burn) do it slowly, very slowly, on low heat. what I did was take it off the heat every now and then and stirred it off the heat so it would get too hot. Once I took it off the stove I stirred in everything in step three which includes the oils you have chosen and vitamin E if you want to put that in. Then I took it off the heat and added the essential oils I have chosen, if you have chosen none that is fine too. I put it in the fridge and when it looked like Vaseline not that hard but not liquid either, then whip with your handheld blender for about 2 min. Then put back into fridge. After about 10 min it will harden a bit more, take it out and whip it some more with your blender. I did this until soft peaks formed and it looked like I could eat it. Then I put it in some clean sanitized jars and slathered it on. There you go........butter yourself up bitches lol........

Vegetarian Tomato Pesto Mozzarella Wraps

Ingredients:

1 large tomato cut up into 1 inch pieces

1 handful of fresh basil

1 tbsp of pesto

Shreeded low fat mozzarella or vegan mozzarella (use as much as you like) I only used a tiny handfull (or you can use solid fresh mozzarella and serve this cold)

Wheat low fat tortilla wraps

Directions
Fill tortilla with cheese tomato and pesto, microwave for about 30-45 seconds. Move to a toaster oven to toast, or a regular oven. Toast until your likeness is done. This is a great food for the little ones. You can substitute vegan cheese like Vegan Gourmet or Daiya.You can also try follow your heart at http://www.followyourheart.com/. They offer really good vegan cheeses!
P.S. You can also serve these cold too and just slice some fresh mozzerella instead