Black bean soup

John and I ventured out to a new Cuban restaurant this weekend and the food was yummy! Service was horrible, but the food was good so I'm sure we will be back again.
One thing I had was a cup of black bean soup. Very simple, but oh so good. We laughed at the fact that before I started clean eating, I hated black beans!
I really wanted to try and make some at home because I seriously could have ate six cups of it! Gave it a shot today and other than the fact that I put way too much couscous in it, it was great!! Kids loved it! I adjusted the amount of couscous for the recipe list.

1 box low sodium organic chicken broth
2 can low sodium black beans
1 can low sodium fire roasted tomatoes
1/4c couscous
1 onion chopped
Garlic
Cumin
Oregano
Cayenne
Sauté onion in olive oil and season to your liking.
Add remaining ingredients and summer until couscous is ready. Serve topped with feta cheese and cilantro.

Poached egg goodness!

Poached eggs, love them!! They are seriously one of my favorites, and I have finally found a great way of cooking them.
This is a two poached egg, Ezekiel toast thingy!
It's so amazingly good! I was in food heaven while eating it!
*heat a skillet sprayed with a bit of olive oil. Spray a cookie cutter with olive oil also and set in the middle of the skillet. Crack your two eggs and add to the cookie cutter. (needs to be a larger cutter) put about 1/2 cup of water in the skillet, cover and bam! In a few minutes you have wonderfully poached eggs!
Toast a piece of Ezekiel bread, top with eggs, a bit of low fat cheddar cheese, avocado slices and a scoop of all natural no sugar added salsa.
Pick that sucker up and eat it!!
*two eggs
*ezekiel bread
*Avocado
*low fat cheddar cheese
*all natural, no suggest added salsa
*1/2 c water
*skillet
*olive oil
*lrg cookie cutter

PUMPKIN PANCAKES

Oh, it's my stomach!
Got up at the butt crack of dawn to get ready to volunteer at the middle school today so I quick grabbed a banana and a coffee for breakfast. Went right from the school to the gym for legs, abs and sprints.
Got in 2.5 miles on the treadmill, 2 of them sprints. Killed legs and abs also and gave the giant ropes a try today! Those things are heavy!
On the way home I was starving! Stomach rumbling!
Been craving some pancakes and needed some protein so I blended these up!
1/2c egg whites
1/2c pure pumpkin
1/2c rolled oats
2 scoops flax
1 heaping scoop vanilla protein
1 tbsp baking powder
Cinnamon
Liquid vanilla
Cooked in a skillet on low heat with coconut oil.
Topped mine with PB2, 1/2 banana and a tiny tad of pure maple syrup.
AMAZING!!
I tried to enjoy them with a nice cup of coffee but made the coffee with NO cup!! A tinymess under the keurig!

Let's make a list...

That's almost always how we start a Thursday. More so if we have no plans for the weekend. We make a list if things we want to get done and almost always end up doing maybe one thing!
This weekend was no different.
We fixed the kitchen light that needed a new switch.
We spent a bit of time at soccer, baseball, guitar practice and out back by the fire pit. A really nice weekend. We also had date night!! We always pick a place we love with food we love and most of the time, beer we love!!
I wish I would have grabbed a picture of the Pizza we ate, and the pitcher of beer we drank, but I was busy...stuffing my face!! Then we went to get ice cream! A single of Peanut butter! Amazing!
It's all good, I work my but off all week and don't feel one bit bad about living a little. But...I felt like crap for two days! So today, back to business and a little week long challenge.
No junk, no added sugars, no alcohol.
Day #1 is a success so far!
Made this amazing green smoothie as a kinda snack mid morning and had one with breakfast. So Delish!
1c water
1c spinach
2c kale
1/2 frozen banana
1/2c frozen peaches
Blend and enjoy!
Of course you can add protein powder, different fruit. Mix it up to your liking!!
ENJOY and don't feel like crap for treating yourself as long as your working your butt off 99% of the time!

Pumpkins are taking over the world!

Every year around this time I fight the urge to put out all my fall decorations, make every pumpkin recipe I have and dress in Halloween costumes at random!
My very favorite time of year. I just love everything about fall time. The kids love it as much as I do and already have costume ideas and are begging me to put all the decorations out!
I love it!
Yesterday we started prep for the million fires we will have this fall and winter. I had ordered 1 cord of wood, hubby requested 2 and I think we are pretty set in wood this year.
That will be part of my workout...loading the wood and stacking it. I'm kinda excited about it! Maybe I have lost my mind as my good friend said the other day! Ha! Ha!
Now onto pumpkins...
Every place I look people are making pumpkin this and pumpkin that! Pumpkin coffee, muffins, cakes, and custards! I love it! So inspiring and yummy! Our oldest daughter can kill a whole pumpkin pie by herself and its one of the first things she talks about when referring to fall! She has requested pumpkin pie for breakfast on her birthday before (in April) and we were happy to oblige! She happens to also be my only child that requests oatmeal sometimes for breakfast so I wanted to come up with "pumpkin pie oats".
The first bowl was so nasty! I had put a pumpkin pie spice in it and I think it has way too much nutmeg or something because it was gross!
Bowl number two was great! This is what I did...
*1/3 cup oats
*2 tbsp flax (optional)
*2 tbsp 100% pure pumpkin
*1/2 tsp cinnamon
*5 drops of liquid vanilla stevia
*1 tbsp honey
Put all the above in a bowl, pour boiling water over top, mix and top with slivered almonds.
Simple and the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor.
www.facebook.com/CreatingAFamilyOfLettuceHeads

It's chili time!

Been rising in the morning to a chill in the air, kids grabbing jackets on the way out to school and ending the night with beautiful fall feeling evenings!
The kids and I have decided that yes, fall time is our favorite season!
So many reasons to love the fall, food not being the least of them!
Ty
I found this recipe in one of our local little magazines. It's titled football feeding frenzy, by Jon Webber. I have no idea how to link Jon or if he has a link but if ya find him tell him we loved his recipe!
I changed only the amount of chicken stock, tomatoes and beans, and I added chicken. It was delish! Kids loved it! Of course they topped it with cheese(low fat) AND sour cream!
I shall rename this recipe from Red lentil chili to:

Red lentil chicken chili
4 c dry red lentils rinsed
2 32oz low sodium organic chicken broth
3 boneless skinless organic chicken breast chopped
1 can low sodium diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 can low sodium kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 large onion chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Olive oil
Cumin
Cayenne
Salt and pepper

Pour broth into Pan and bring to a boil, adding the lentils at the boil and turning heat down slightly. Continuously stirring lentils until tender.
In another pan pour in some olive oil and cook chopped chicken and onion with all seasonings.
After fine add in beans and tomatoes.
Once the lentils are ready, add on everything else and season more as needed.
My lentils took about 25 minutes to fully be tender and ready.

Busy little lettuce heads!

When school starts I get do excited to be able to hit the nail salon, go get my hair done, go to the gym. Just have a little relaxing time for ME.
Having the kids home in the summer is a blast and I seriously love every minute of it, but my roots and toes need some attention come August!
About one month after school starts though so do fall sports and after school clubs! Like every other family, we get crazy busy and those hair and nail appointments are put aside for other things. Making sure everyone uniforms ate clean, getting team snack put together, making sure we have dinner ready to take with us. It's a fun and busy time and a routine is huge for me. I have to stick to the routine!
Yesterday was a day that my routine got a little behind, a little bit broken!
And I maybe had a minor breakdown!
It ain't always pretty, but we made it to the ball field on time. Everyone had homework done, and I was still able to have a meal ready for us to eat so we didn't get sucked into the "fast food" trap after the game!
Life gets busy sometimes! Simple, healthy dinners on the go are a great way to make sure that everyone is staying fueled up to make it through those busy times!
*grilled chicken salad
Seasoned with just black pepper garlic and and smokey paprika.
Spring mix, red onions, carrots, green peppers and a yogurt based gluten free no sugar added dressing.
*steak wraps
Steak and onions sauteed with pepper and olive oil
Lettuce, avocado, whole wheat tortillas and yogurt based ranch dressing.
*grilled chicken pasta salad
Whole wheat pasta, grilled chicken, whatever veggies you want to include and this super yummy organic ville dressing.
All portable and simple ingredients and kid approved!!!