Pumpkin Muffins - the first ever Recipe Card!

I don't know about you, but I started out with a file box of recipe cards, just like my mom did.  Then I graduated to a binder (or several!) to collect my favorites.  Then finding a recipe turned into typing a search into my favorite recipe website and if it looked really promising, printing off a recipe.  

Well I have been getting nostalgic lately for the old fashioned stuff like quilts and hand made furniture.  No wonder vintage is back with a vengeance!  We all want to be connected to our traditions.  So, to pay homage to the recipe card box, I'm going to post my "recipe cards" as I share my favorites.  Maybe they will make it into your recipe card file too.  

I have a new Blendtec blender (which I LOVE) and I've never made muffins in a blender before now, but this took just seconds and I was the hero.  I am all for quick and easy when it comes to dinner prep!  Warm soup and fresh muffins - how can you beat that for a rainy night?  I adapted this recipe to my own style (more healthy, but still very tasty).  It also has a lot of fiber, which goes nicely to keep you satisfied with a light meal like soup.

As a side note, I love the Orange Fruits and Veggies Blend by Blendfresh.  If you aren't familiar with it yet, it's a powder made of 12 fruits and veggies dried at low temperatures to protect their nutritional value and enzymes, and then powdered so they won't spoil.  It makes it easy to add extra plant nutrition to your foods.  For example, the bottle of Orange has carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin, butternut squash, banana, mango, pineapple, acerola, apricot, peach, yellow bell pepper, lemon and orange in raw, whole food powder form.  But the beautiful thing is that while you and your family will enjoy all the benefits of added vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and fiber, no one will even taste it!  Awesome ;)

If you'd like to learn more about or purchase any of the whole food blends from Blendfresh, just click www.blendwithjenn.com to learn or shop.

In case you can't see my old fashioned recipe card graphic above, here is the text version of it.

Pumpkin Muffins

In your blender jar combine and blend 20 seconds:

1 C canned pumpkin          2 C buttermilk
3 eggs                                1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt                             1/2 t baking soda
1 tsp baking powder           1 t cinnamon
1 T coconut (or other) oil    1 C oats
1 T (optional) Blendfresh Orange Fruits & Veggies Blend

Next add:
1 C flour and pulse 4-6 times.

Pour into 12 muffin tins and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup

This takes literally less than ten minutes from start to table, so you are hearing a chorus of "What's for dinner?" this could save the day!  Pair it with a hearty slice of whole grain bread and you have a nice light evening meal that satisfies.

4 Cups broccoli florets, steamed and divided

1 Cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian)

1 Cup water

Salt and pepper to taste

1/3 Cup grated cheddar cheese

Add 3 1/2 cups steamed broccoli and the rest of the ingredients to the blender jar.  Blend on the Hot Soup setting if you have a Blendtec blender (the heat from the blades will heat the soup), or 90-180 seconds in a regular blender.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup of steamed broccoli and pulse about 3 times, until they are bite sized chunks.   You are done!  You may need to heat the soup in the microwave or on the stove if using lower end blender.  Pour and top with shredded cheese to make it pretty.

Is it good?  Yeah, they like it...

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A Compromise on Instant Oatmeal?

Some days the kids just want a "fun" cereal for breakfast.  Translation: "Please can I have extra sugar and less fiber from a brightly colored package before you send me off to sit still at school for half a day".  Uh, maybe not.

But we want them to have a little fun sometimes and feel like they have choices, and most importantly to not grow up feeling so deprived that they binge on cold cereal the second they go off to college.  So being the stealthy, healthy mom that I am, I've engineered a compromise.  Here's how it goes.  On special days they can pick a flavored instant oatmeal packet.  In the beginning they would watch me pour it into their bowl, then I'd walk over, add the water, and as they happily ran off to get ready for the day I'd grab a handful of regular oats and add them to the bowl.  (The regular oats aren't even called instant, but cook up in just the same amount of time in the microwave and actually give the kids something to chew on versus drinking down the instant stuff).  They've figured out what I'm up to and these days they don't even mind.  They're used to the taste of less sugar now.

So they get to pick the fun flavor they want from a brightly colored assortment, and I get to give them an added dose of fiber so they will stay full until lunch and keep their tummy from hurting from too much processed food.  Plus the goodness in the oats will dilute down the sugar from the instant packet since the body has something more hearty to digest, creating a more positive glycemic effect on blood sugar.  By doing this I'm also teaching them to adapt recipes to be more healthy at the same time.

Oats even have some protein, did you know that?  Lots of vegan protein powders use it as a main protein source.  Just think, you get all these benefits and you slash your grocery bill too by adding the less expensive regular oats to the more expensive flavor packs.  Everybody wins!

Let me know how you like it!  If you're on Instagram post a pic of your bowl and tag me with @coachjenngibbs .  Thanks!

The Magic of Flavor - Capers and Lowfat Tilapia Piccata Recipe

If you're like most of us trying to be health conscious, you've probably tried the "eat clean" baked chicken breast and steamed broccoli phase.  For many body builders, this is a staple go-to meal and is accepted as is.  But let's face it - they have a much bigger motivation than the average person.  They have a deadline to bare just about everything in a tiny swimsuit on a stage.  Been there, done that, it can be very intimidating.  And yes, it is a great source of strength for food choices!

But what if you just want to eat healthy and not be bored?  Don't get me wrong.  I DO encourage people to begin planning their meals and snacks with a lean protein and vegetable and then see what else you decide to add.  It's an easy strategy.  So yes, chicken and broccoli (adapt if you are vegetarian).  But it doesn't have to be flavorless.

I want to share one of my secret weapons; the caper.  You may have heard of them or had them once or twice, maybe in a Mediterranian restaurant, but likely they aren't in your fridge.  I would think they'd be more mainstream as tasty as they are.

Capers are small, pea sized buds from the caper bush.  They are pickled for flavor, but they taste nothing like a pickle!  Some call it a tart flavor, but I say think of the flavor of a salt and vinegar potato chip.  If your not a fan of the chips, just imagine what a little of that flavor would be like to liven up chicken or fish, or in a green or bean salad.  Just a little unexpected zest that makes it fun for almost no more calories.  Hooray!

If you go to fancy Italian restaurants you might have seen Chicken Piccata as a dish on the menu.  The traditional version is to dredge your chicken breast (or for fish too) in beaten egg, dip in flour, then fry in olive oil.  When it's done squeeze fresh lemon juice over the top and decorate with capers.  I've opted for the healthy version in the picture above.  Super easy - I dare you to try it.

Tilapia Piccata (lowfat version)

Frozen tilapia loin
Salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste
Lemon
Capers

Place frozen tilapia in a pan and season.  Bake in a 350 degree oven about 20-25 minuted depending on the size of the cut, until fish flakes easily with a fork at the center.  Squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle capers on top.  Enjoy with a giant salad!

If you need help finding them, just look in any grocery store (this pic is from Walmart!).  It's in the aisle with the olives and canned artichokes.  Grab some of those while you're there to keep on hand for your next pasta salad.  Enjoy and share!

The Secret to Getting the Most from your Green Smoothie

Green smoothies have become a popular way to get more fresh fruit and veggies and all their wonderful parts into our diets.  If you aren't sold, you should try one!  As if more produce wasn't reason enough in itself, when we do this we are sneaking in all the fiber, extra water and phytonutrients that come with them for very minimal effort.  My kids have grown up associating a glass like this with sweet deliciousness instead of "yuck,green!".

 TIP:  If you have a hard time with the color, try putting it in a colored cup and drink with a straw, or just add blueberries for a lovely shade of purple every time.

Unless your veggies are fried or coated in a not-so-good-fat dressing, we want LOTS of them in your diet. Making smoothies is one easy and creative way to quickly put the raw, fresh version straight into your body. 

 My recipe:  I use a full size blender filled with about 2 cups of water, a big handful or two of greens, some ice or frozen fruit to chill and then top off with fresh fruit.  The secret ingredient I like to add to make the most of the iron in my greens is coconut milk.  

I buy it in a liter box from Costco (I like the So Delicious brand).  Doesn't that just add extra fat calories you ask?  It does, but coconut fat is special - medium chain fatty acids like what is in breast milk - good for the human body; joint, skin, hair, brain, etc.  That in itself is a topic for another day. 

So yes, I want to add coconut oil to my diet as a supplement, but specifically with my greens?  Absolutely!  Part of what makes them green is the iron.  Quick story - during my pregnancies I suffered from a mild case of anemia, which means lack of iron in the blood.  In real life that means there weren't enough little molecules  roaming around my bloodstream to carry the oxygen fast enough for me.  For example, if I stood up too quickly my brain would take a quick brake (the little oxygen was going to my muscles instead), and my vision would go black, hearing would temporarily disappear, and if I was lucky I could steady myself on a chair or a wall until it returned in a few seconds, or feel my way down to the floor without fainting.  That's a fun side note, and hopefully one you have never experienced, but the point is that ABSORBING the iron from my diet was very important for my body.  It is for most women in general.   

Greens are a great source of iron - more on that is coming.  And according to a Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry research article "iron utilization and iron absorbtion was greater in diets in which the fat was supplied as coconut oil".  A stimulating read to be sure, but the point is that you'll actually use the iron from your diet better when combined with coconut oil.  So why not pack one more punch in that smoothie?  Yay for good fats!

So take a risk and try it out.  My bet is you'll enjoy the creamy texture it adds and you'll feel good about your food choice all day!

ps-
If you love medical data and studies here is the link of the article - enjoy!
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf60198a036