Nut-butter Banana Wrap

Nut-butter Banana Wrap
A recipe really isn't needed for this simple snack.


Instead of using a tortilla, I used swiss chard leaves, smeared them with a tablespoon of almond butter, a drizzle of honey, and wrapped them around half a banana.  The swiss chard leaves don't add much flavor, it's just another sneaky way I like to get in more veggies (and less processed food/carbs).

Turkey Veggie Chili

Sorry there aren't many pictures... forgot to take them while I was making the chili.  

Anthony and I use double the amount of red pepper flakes and throw in some cayenne pepper because we like things spicy.  If you use canned beans, I would suggest not adding any salt until you're ready to eat because we use dried beans in our recipe and don't need any salt.

We usually top off our chili with a little bit of cheese and greek yogurt... totally taste like sour cream and adds a super nice creamy taste to the chili. 

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes about 8 servings)

• 1 tabelspoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1.5 lbs. ground turkey
• 1 can (15 ounce) no salt added diced tomatoes with chilies
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup dry kidney beans (or 1 15-ounce can kidney beans)
• 3/4 cup dry black beans (or 1 15-ounce can black beans)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tabelspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon ground pepper
• salt to taste, but I skipped on the salt and you can't tell the difference
• whatever veggies you have lying around that need to be used like TODAY (I rolled with half a zucchini, a hand-full of mushrooms, half a red bell pepper, and about 5 cups of baby spinach all chopped)

1.) If using dried beans, rinse well and soak kidney and black beans overnight.

2.)  In a medium pot, boil enough water  to cook your ground turkey (this is not the 2 cups of water called for in the ingredient list.  After draining out the water you used to boil the ground turkey, you still need to add 2 cups when you combine all ingredients).  Yup, boil it. 

I learned that this is the best way to get ground meat to cook in the smallest pieces as possible... so you have more meat pieces in your chili.   Thank you, Food Network!

3.)  Drain out the water and throw ALL ingredients into a slow cooker (don't forget your 2 cups of water).  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or cook on high for 4-5 hours.

4.)  That's it!!

Before cooking...

... after cooking.

Nutrition info (will be different if you use canned beans and different veggies) for one serving: 269 cals, 9g fat, 2g saturated fat, 56mg cholesterol, 352mg sodium, 21g carbs, 9g fiber, 22g protein.

Sweet Potato Pie

This recipe came from a website which is quickly becoming one of my favorites: SkinnyTaste.com

Every recipe I've tried from Gina's site (I've made about 6 so far) has turned out supper yummy!  Check it out!

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(source)

For this recipe, I used purple Okinawan sweet potatoes because they are readily available in my grocery store, so don't be thrown off by the purple color of the pies.  You're pies will come out to whatever color potatoes you use.

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes 1 pie, I doubled the recipe in the pictures because I needed to make two pies for Thanksgiving)

• 2 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk (I used almond)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp ground pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and start washing those potatoes.  Once washed, place potatoes in a large pot with water, making sure all potatoes are under the waterline.  Cover the pot and set on high heat to bring water to a roaring boil.  Lower the heat (but keep the water boiling) and boil sweet potatoes until completely cooked (30 - 45 minutes).  A fork comes in hand to poke the potatoes to check for "doneness".

2.)  When potatoes are cooked, run under cold water and let them cool for about 10 - 15 minutes.  Once cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skins off the potatoes, throw naked potatoes into a bowl, and mash them up.   

Note- You will be using a hand mixer to mix the rest of the ingredients together, but it's easier to get out the lumps by now.

3.)  Add butter, sugar, milk, eggs, spices, and vanilla.  Using an electric mixer, mix until smooth.

4.)  Pour mixture into a frozen, unbaked pie crust and spread evenly.

5.) Before putting the pies into the oven, Anthony helped me make a pie shield to protect the crust from burning.  Simply take a piece of foil, trace the BOTTOM (not the top) of a pie dish and lay foil over the crust (like first picture in step 6, below). 

6.)  Bake at 350 degrees for about 55 - 60 minutes.  Remove the pie shields with about 10 - 15 minutes left of baking to brown the crust edges. Use a knife to pierce the middle of the pie to check if completely baked (knife should come out clean).  

7.)  Let the pie(s) cool completely on a cooling rack (about an hour or so) and refrigerate - longer the better - before serving.  ENJOY!