BBQ Chickpea Wraps

Sometimes I get ahead of myself. I cooked up a big batch of beans the other day with plans of making hummus but forgot we didn't have tahini. Last night we still had a ton of Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in the fridge after making Fried Chickpea and Spinach Pitas with Creamy Yogurt Sauce the night before. I really didn't feel like making anything exotic so we threw together this stupid easy filling for wraps. The beauty of this recipe is that it can be adapted to any old veggies you have in your fridge. You could swap out the zucchini with bell peppers, mushrooms, cooked sweet potato chunks, winter squash, asparagus, you get the idea. We used this as a fridge clean out since we also had a jar of homemade BBQ sauce from last week and Pitas from the night before.

Sometimes you just need an easy dinner that you can feel good about.

For the filling:

2 C Chickpeas, or One 15 oz can of drained Chickpeas

1/2 Zucchini, quartered and chopped

1/2 Yellow Squash, quartered and chopped

4 C Greens (spinach, kale, chard, whatever)

1 C of your favorite BBQ Sauce

2 TBS of oil

Tortillas or Pitas for serving 

You can even top it with a sprinkle of Blue Cheese. 

In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat. Toss in veggies and cook until softened. Add chickpeas to brown. Toss in greens and BBQ sauce, cover with lid and cook until greens are wilted and sauce is heated. Serve in rolled up tortillas or pita bread with a sprinkle of cheese if desired.

Easy Everyday Pancake Mix

Who says pancakes have to be saved for special occasions like Saturday morning? My Easy Everyday Pancake Mix makes Monday Morning Pancakes possible!
I was tired of buying the over priced organic pancake mixes and making them from scratch every time was time consuming. Not to mention that I didn't want a huge batch of pancakes for just the toddler and I, so I came up with this mix based off our favorite pancake recipe. I just mix the dry ingredients together and store them in a quart jar. I have a piece of paper I keep under the ring on the lid with the ingredients for the mix on one side and the directions for making pancakes for two on the other so I am never searching for the recipes when I need them! You could make this with whatever flour you like, white, wheat or a mix (you could even make them with gluten free flour and add xanthin gum). I've even started making muffins with this mix, so look for those recipes in the future!

For Mix:
3 C. Organic Unbleached Flour
4 Tbs Evaperated Cane Sugar
4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Sea Salt

For Pancakes...

If I want to just make enough for one or two people I add;

1/2 C Easy Pancake Mix
1 Egg
1/3 C Milk (cow, almond, cashew, whatever you desire)
2 tsp Oil or melted Butter
1/4 tsp Vanilla

For four People I double every thing but the egg so;

1 C Easy Pancake Mix
1 Egg
2/3 C Milk
4 Tsp Oil or melted Butter
1/2 Tsp Vanilla

Stir together pancake mix and wet ingredients until lumps have disappeared.  In a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat drop desired amount of batter, I do tablespoons for silver dollar pancakes. When pancakes start to bubble, flip them. 

(See how the left and right pancake have bubbles but the middle does not.) Another minute or so and they will be brown on the other side. Grab your syrup and dig in!

Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs

Today I needed some inspiration for the ground turkey I had in the fridge. I didn't want to just replace beef with turkey and make something boring like turkey tacos or chili, so when the hubby came home I asked him what sounding good tonight and he said Italian. I pulled all sorts of ingredients out of the fridge and decided a Mediterranean inspired meat ball was going to be on the menu tonight.

First of all do not use extra lean turkey unless you want a ball of sawdust in your mouth. Turkey is lean, some of the fat will cook off and in general we are always trying to add moisture to turkey meatballs, meat loaf and burgers. Speaking of extra moisture that's where the veggies come in. As the veggies cook they release moisture into the meat, that's a good thing. You know what's not good? Big chunks of raw veggies that make your meat ball, loaf, burger fall apart. That's why people think they need a binder ie; bread and eggs in meat balls.  PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Do not add bread crumbs to these meatballs! They will be dry and taste like bread crumbs. Trust me, these babies hold together just fine as long as you chop everything VERY FINELY. That's why I repeat those instructions on every item. Follow these instructions and you will end up with moist, flavorful, not your everyday turkey meatballs.

Ingredients:

1 Lb Ground Turkey (not extra lean)

1/2 small Yellow Onion, finely diced 

3 cloves Garlic, finely diced

2 Tbs Red Bell Pepper, finely diced

1 Tbs fresh Oregano, finely diced 

2 Tbs Feta Cheese, finely crumbled 

2 Tbs Kalamata Olives, finely diced

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Roll meat mixture into balls. I. Made mine into 14 walnut sized balls. I grilled mine over medium heat on an oiled grill pan for about 12 minutes, flipping half way through. Yours may take more or less time depending on the size and cooking method. Keep a close eye to be sure they do not overcook and dry out.

We served our Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs on top of pasta with grilled zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms and kale with red sauce.

BBQ Pockets with Cornmeal Pizza Dough

Yesterday we made Cornmeal Pizza Crust so tonight we are doing a leftover-makeover with our BBQ Pork from Saturday night and pairing it with our Cormeal Pizza Crust dough to make BBQ pockets. Hot Pockets are one of those things that we haven't had in years due to the quality of ingredients. I've made a few fails when trying to replicate the hand held pocket because I've over filled the dough or used a bread dough that didn't quite hold up. These were a hit! Even the toddler got in on the fun and helped out.

BBQ Pockets:

1/2 of Cornmeal Pizza Dough Recipe

About 2 Cups of leftover BBQ

If dough was made in advance, let dough come to room temperature (about an hour). Roll dough out into a large rectangle about a 1/4 inch thick.

Cut rectangle into four equal portions, trimming if necessary to get clean-ish rectangles. 

Place about a half a cup of BBQ at one end of each rectangle leaving a half inch border.

Place a little water in a small bowl and dip fingers into water and run your finger around the edge of the dough where the filling is.

You don't want to wet the entire edge or it won't stick together well. Fold dough over filling and pinch edges to create a seal.

Place pockets on a cookie sheet lined with a SILPAT or parchment paper.

Cut a couple of small slits in each one.

Cover with a towel and let rise about 25 minutes while you let oven preheat to 400 degrees. Bake 15-20 minutes until browned.

Cornmeal Pizza Crust and Taco Pizza

We probably make Pizza once a week. It's a easy dinner that will be a hit with the whole family, but we don't limit ourselves to just the traditional pie. We have a sourdough bbq pizza in our rotation, leftover corned beef and cabbage, roasted butternut squash and pecans with blue cheese, whatever we have leftover we've made into pizza. Recently someone mentioned taco pizza and while it sounded good I wanted to try a different sort of crust. This crust has a cornbread flavor with a slight crunch that makes it perfect for taco pizza, it would probably be good with BBQ or leftover chili as well.

Ingredients:

1/4 C Unsalted Butter

1 1/2 C Whole Milk

4 1/2 Tsp Active Dry Yeast

1 1/2 C Medium Grind Cornmeal

2 1/2 C Unbleached Flour, plus more for kneading *

2 Tbs Evaperated Cane Sugar

2 1/2 tsp Wheat Gluten

1 tsp Sea Salt

*(You could use Bread Flour instead and drop the extra gluten)

In a small saucepan melt butter, when melted add milk til warm but not hot. While butter is melting combine yeast, cornmeal, flour, sugar, gluten and salt in a large bowl. (I use gluten in this recipe because I am replacing a significant amount of flour with cornmeal. Cornmeal does not contain gluten and without the added gluten the crust would not rise correctly or hold together.) Once butter and milk are warm, mix into flour and stir until it forms a loose ball. Sprinkle a little flour onto counter, turn dough ball out onto counter. Knead dough adding flour as needed until dough is slightly tacky and elastic.

Place dough into lightly oil bowl, cover with a clean towel and place in a warm spot until dough has doubled in volume, about an hour to an hour and a half. 

(Before rise)

(After Rise)

Divide dough in half, roll out half of the dough and place on a pizza pan. 

Place other half of dough in plastic bag and store in refrigerator for up to 10 days (it may turn dark by 10 days but if it smells fine it's all good). Preheat oven to 400 degrees, top with desired toppings and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

For Taco Pizza:

1 C Refried Black Beans

1/2 C Salsa

1 lb Ground Beef

1/2 Yellow Onion-diced

1 pouch Frontera Taco Sauce (or your favorite taco seasoning)

8 oz Shredded Cheddar or Pepper Jack Cheese

Olives, Tomato, Lettuce, Green Onions, Guacamole and Sour Cream for garnish

Cook together beef and onions. When browned add taco sauce and take off heat. Meanwhile stir together beans and salsa in a medium bowl. Spread beans over pizza crust, spread beef over beans and top with cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees and top with desired toppings when done!

Tangerine Vanilla Muffins

I've been in a real "waste not" kind of kick lately, I may be going a little stir crazy staying at home with the toddler, so I'm finding uses for all sorts of things that would otherwise be discarded. I made my own applecider vinegar this fall with Apple peels and cores from apples I cooked with, lemon extract with zest from lemons I was juicing for other uses and now these muffins! I got some beautiful organic tangerines (which are hard to come by in Arizona because it's illegal to import organic citrus from other states) and didn't want to waste the untainted peel (ok, I may be losing it). So this morning the toddler had to wait for me to zest his tangerine before I peeled it to give to him, a side of patience with his breakfast! 

I think it was worth the wait because he has been gobbling up these muffins since they came out of the oven. They are light, moist and delightfully citrusy. A little bit of sunshine on a cold winters day! I belive they would be equally as good if you used orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime zest. Whatever you have on hand, don't let that peel go to waste!

 Tangerine Vanilla Muffins

   

1 1/2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter

2/3 C Sugar

2 Eggs

2 TBS Tangerine Zest

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 C Unbleached Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

2/3 C Whole Milk Yogurt

Preheat oven to 375. Line either a 12 standard muffin tin or 48 mini muffin tin with paper cups or grease and flour tins. 

In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs into butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition, then incorporate tangerine zest and vanilla. 

Mix in 1/3 C of yogurt followed by half of the flour mixture and repeat with remaining yogurt and flour, mixing on low until ingredients are combined.

I like to use a cookie scoop to scoop the batter into the muffin tin. It's especially helpful when making mini muffins! 

Once you scoop the batter into the tins about 2/3 full, tap the pans down on the counter a few times to settle the batter since it is very thick. Bake minis for 18-20 minutes and full size 25-30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars

I have recently returned to working out and I am starving all the time! I realized I wasn't getting enough protein to keep up with my bodies demands so I went to the store and bought some of my old favorite protein bars. Not only were they expensive but they were not something I would give to the kid because of the ingredients. I made the mistake of trying to eat one in front of him and it didn't end well. 

So off to the Internet I went for a good protein bar recipe that was simple, used ingredients I had on hand (or close substitutions) and weren't a ton of calories. I couldn't find one. I found lots of good looking recipes with tons of ingredients but nothing I could throw together quickly. I also am not a fan of really sweet things, if you are you may want to use chocolate chips instead of cacao nibs and I'm willing to be these would be good dipped in chocolate and eaten frozen. 

Makes 10 bars

1 1/4 C Plain Pea Protein

1 C Unsweetened Almond Milk

1 Ripe Banana

30 drops Vanilla Creme Stevia

1/2 C All Natural Peanut Butter

1/8 C Cacao Nibs or Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl I mixed the protein powder and the almond milk into a thick paste, then I added the banana and the stevia.

Next I mixed in the peanut butter and the cacao nibs. I mixed this until it started to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it resembles cookie dough.

Then I lined an 8x8 pan with parchment paper and smoothed the dough into pan.

Pop it into the fridge and let chill for 2 hours. When bars have set up but are still soft, pull the parchment paper and bars out of the pan and set on the cutting board.

You want the bars to be soft enough to cut but set up enough that they hold their shape. I cut the bars in half down the center and into as close as 5 equal bars on each side as I could.

The facts as entered into My Fitness Pal:

177 Calories, 8 grams of fat, 17 grams of protein

If you use chocolate chips the calories will be higher.

It's all a bunch of tofu and tree bark...

Healthy food, it's all a bunch of tofu and tree bark. Most people I've encountered in the last 12 years I've spent in the healthfood industry think healthy foods are tasteless or a healthy lifestyle is unattainable. There is a good reason for that. Most popular health bloggers seem to live life at some unattainable standard that conveys the message that you must follow strict lifestyle choices at all times or you are a failure. Same with diets. If you have ever been on a strict no carb, high protein, only eat fruit on Wednesdays before 6pm diet you know that the second you decide to eat a banana on a Tuesday at 8 pm your done for and you might as well eat a tube of cinnamon rolls for breakfast because you are a big, fat, failure. I feel I'm slightly guilty of continuing this unattainable stereotype on my Healthy Gourmet on the go blog. I was always so concerned what my customers would think if I posted a new recipe for maple bacon sweet potato cupcakes or my latest beer cocktail that I had 2 blogs!!! I would preach moderation during our classes but I was too concerned with what people think to be my true self on my blog. So welcome to my new honest blog where I will share my healthy recipes alongside my not so healthy recipes. Where I will show you how we live a life of moderation, healthy recipes, little indulgences and a cocktail or two, but it's not all tofu and tree bark.