Simple ways to WoW your food

I am pretty good about sneaking veggies into stuff- but here are some ways I've added extra veggies and grains to things:

In baking I've been substituting 1/4 to 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat flour. I've also been adding a couple tablespoons of flax seed (that I've run through the blender)

To anything with ground beef I'm adding 1/2 cup of red Quinoa. I've done this to Taco Salad and Sloppy Joes this week.

Spaghetti sauce is a great place to hide grains and veggies. Even to bottled sauce you can add zuchini, carrots, quinoa, millet- just simmer and then throw in the blender when everything is soft. No one will be the wiser.

I've WoWed our homemade pizza by adding:
Crust-I substituted out two cups of whole wheat flour and added dough enhancer and Vital Wheat Gluten
Sauce- I added 10 baby carrots that I'd steamed in the microwave to soften and zucchini and then blended it in the blender.
Toppings- My newest favorite pizza toppings are: red peppers, tomatoes, onions, and thinly sliced zucchini topped with mozzerella and asiago cheese. YUM!

Have you WoWed anything?
Have your tried any recipes here?
What do you think?

It's been about three weeks.

The differences I've noticed from eating more whole grains:
1- my chronically constipated kid that nothing including laxatives seemed to help for long? She's pooping. Maybe too much info for you all- but I need to share what a huge relief this is for me! I didn't want her to rely on medication for simple bodily functions for the rest of her life. But she's only had one poopy accident in the last week. This compared to a multiple times daily thing? YAY!!!

2- I have more energy.

3- My kids don't need to snack as often.

4- I don't need to snack as often.

5- My sugar cravings that used to be out of control? WAY down.

This is huge people. HUGE!

Lettuce Wraps

I love cooking Asian food. There are some important flavors that the majority of Asian foods require (at least at my house).

-Sesame oil
-ginger
-soy sauce and/or Teriyaki sauce
-Hosin sauce
-garlic


Lettuce wraps are pretty versatile- you can add pretty much any meat (or no meat) and whatever veggies you have on hand and as long as you chop everything about the same (small) size and season it properly they'll taste great. I feel pretty good about serving Asian food to my family since it's so full of veggies. Tonight I WoWed some chicken lettuce wraps and they got rave reviews from my toughest critics.

This is what I started with. Chicken breasts (I was in a hurry- so I used some leftover chicken from tacos two nights ago and supplemented it with frozen chicken breast pieces. Also, Yoshida sauce, a yellow and a red pepper, zucchini, green onions, thai sweet chili sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and tonight I added leftover brown rice, millet and red quinoa. Of course lettuce for the 'wrap' part. Usually I use romaine lettuce- but I've found that really iceberg works best for these.



These are really easy to make- but the chopping does take some time. I enlisted the help of Megan (okay- she begged me) to chop the chicken. Little side note- my kids BEG to help in the kitchen. I have speed and perfection issues when it comes to cooking and really struggle with letting them help. Megan usually has chicken issues- but after chopping the chicken tonight she was so excited to eat the food she helped make. I need to 'let go' more often. She really did a good job with it though- and even used a sharp knife!

The key is to cut the veggies/meat to the same size.

I decided to add some red onion as well. Also I poured the Yoshida sauce over the cut up chicken so it would absorb some flavor before cooking (also I had to cover up the taco seasoning). I also sprinkled it with ginger. If you have fresh ginger I suggest using that- but I didn't have any so I substituted with powdered ginger.

Look how pretty it looks in the pan!


Now of course you can make these without the grains- but these whole grains will fill you up and make it so your kids aren't begging for food 20 minutes after you finish dinner. Also- they're delicious!

I started with some Sesame Oil, heated it until it was liquid- then added the garlic, veggies and stir fried them until they were tender- then I added the chicken and grains and some more ginger and Yoshida sauce. I also added Hosin sauce.

When I first started experimenting with Asian food other then stir fry (which is one of my favorites still) it took me lots of searching and finally going to a specialty grocery store to find Hosin Sauce. Now it's relatively easy to find in the Asian section of most grocery stores.

YUM!


Simply fill a lettuce leaf with some filling, roll like a taco and enjoy!



The critics say:
Ashley- "I'd give them five thumbs up if I had five thumbs!"
Megan- "These are the best! Can we have leftovers for lunch tomorrow?"
Annika (who wouldn't eat it as a wrap- but ate a couple pieces of plain lettuce and then the filling with a fork)- motioned two thumbs up.
Cori- Motioned two thumbs up- after she saw her sisters do it- but she ate three wraps.

Enjoy!

P.S. We had our wraps with cherries.

Millet- not just birdseed anymore!

Millet is our next super grain!



Millet is a super grain- meaning that it is a complete protein. In many parts of the world millet is a staple, although in America it's primarily used as bird seed. Millet is easy to digest and is gluten free. Try adding cooked millet to casseroles for extra protein- and use less meat.


To prepare millet you can simmer it 1 part millet to 2.5 parts water for about 30 minutes (until water is absorbed). It's very soft and bland- which helps it blend into most foods seamlessly.

I cooked 1 cup of millet tonight and ended up with 5 cups of cooked millet.




1 cup of millet contains 284 calories, 8 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat, 7 mg calcium, 240 mg phospohorus., 1.5 mg iron, 3 g dietary fiber as well as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and potassium.

Our First SUPER GRAIN! Quinoa

Quinoa (Keen-Wah)



Quinoa comes in three colors, white, red and black. The above picture is red quinoa. Quinoa is a super grain. What is a super grain you ask? Well it's a grain that contains all 8 of the essential amino acids to make it a complete protein. Quinoa also contains lysine, which wheat does not, as well as niacin, iron and potassium.

Quinoa is prepared by simmering in water 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water (1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water) until water is absorbed (about 12 minutes when I did it tonight).





The texture of quinoa is much like that of al dente pasta or of brown rice. In fact tonight I added quinoa to our brown rice and it was hart to tell. The flavor is a little 'nutty' and quite pleasant. A suggestion from the WoW class was replacing 1/2 the ground beef in a recipe with red quinoa.




See the quinoa? My kids saw it too- luckily they're pretty good about eating what they're given, and I've been so excited by this class that I've been talking about it practically non-stop since I've gotten home. Luckily my next door neighbor and friend is excited to and is willing to listen to me talk about how I've been incorporating things and give me tips/hints on better ideas.

I added quinoa into our pizza sauce last night (after blending you'd not even know it was there) and my husband even added some to a chocolate shake tonight. I've also added it to spanish rice.

I paid $2.65 a lb for quinoa at the health food store. I cooked up a cup of quinoa and used some of it tonight and put the rest into snack sized ziplocs and stuck it in the freezer where it's supposed to be good for 6 months.

More about quinoa

WoW your food!

I attended a cooking class this week that's got me all fired up about eating healthy. I think on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being only eating McDonald's to 10 being only eating food that we grow organically in the season that it's grown we probably rate a 6 on the 'healthy' scale. My kids eat fairly well and I cook (generally mostly from scratch) often. We usually have a selection of veggies and fruits with meals and my kids eat them. I sneak veggies into the main dish as well.

This class I attended was fabulous. The presenters discussed ways to lessen the meat that you serve your family and adequately replace the proteins with whole grains- in ways other then in bread! They discussed grains I'd never heard of, and some I had but didn't know the health benefits of. I paid a visit to the health food store and $50 later am ready to start some experimenting.

One of the presenters shared her powerful experience with changing her diet to a higher whole grain diet and it's direct effect on her health. The power of her story is amazing and I've asked her permission in sharing it- and if she approves I will.

I've struggled with a variety of physical ailments, auto immune diseases that seem to come and go without explanation (diseases that shouldn't go once they're diagnosed). My 5 (almost 6) year-old struggles with chronic constipation. If nothing else I'm hoping a diet higher in whole grains (besides wheat) will help her bowels function properly.

I have a tendency to go through phases, to get all excited and fired up- but this is EASY. That's the key. You cook your regular recipes and WoW it in order to up the fiber and the vitamins and minerals and your family won't even know! Wherever you're at you just do a little better.

I'm going to start by discussing some grains that I'm experimenting with- and sharing recipes- the old way and what I've done to Wow it. I'm excited. Hold on tight!