Quinoa Chili

Replace your usual chili recipe meat with Quinoa instead or do this simple recipe... 

Cook 1 cup quinoa and then add 
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
jalapeno peppers to taste 
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 cans organic diced tomatoes
1 can organic black bean 
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
black pepper to taste

Easy Pizza

So Wednesday for us is Pizza Wednesday. I have made dough myself but it never comes out quite right. I found Trader Joe's wheat pizza dough and started having the hubby pick it up on his way home.

Roll out your TJ pizza dough (costs 1.49 at my location) and make sure to put plenty of flour on the dough because it will stick.

Add Classico Organic Pasta Sauce (the only jarred sauce that I am willing to eat)

Add minced garlic, herbs and veggies from my garden (rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, green bell peppers and spinach), and add broccoli.

Add your favorite cheese of course --we like ours in moderation

Bake for about 15 min at 400 degrees and BAM you just made a low cost and great tasting pizza at home.

It does come out better if you use a rolling pin and a pizza pan, but I have made it without those.

Tastes like a Garden

I hate jarred pasta sauces. The only one that comes close to edible in my opinion is the Organic Classico. I prefer to make my own. Super easy and super good for you! I get these ingredients from my garden so that it is particularly fresh.

2 zucchini
4 large tomatoes or 1 pint of little tomatoes or equivalent (I have used 1 can diced tomatoes)
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, garlic, pepper, and olive oil to taste ( I use about 20 leaves of oregano, 20 leaves of thyme, 20 leaves of rosemary, and 20 leaves of basil) 1 tbspn minced garlic, 1 tspn pepper, and 1/4 cup of olive oil).
I often add spinach and other veggies to this as well.

Put in blender or food processor and blend! I have a vitamix, so I blend on variable 10 for about 20 seconds.

I typically use this with the Barilla Plus Spaghetti (cooked), put in pan, mix in sauce, add cheese as desired and bake on 375 for about 15-20 min.

Stir Fried Quinoa

Nom... nom... nom. I love this one. It makes me happy in the inside and it is super healthy!
Quinoa is a protein packed seed that has the nutrition of a multi-vitamin and that is high in protein.
You can find it usually in the rice and beans section of your store.

The best part of quinoa is that you can cook it in a rice cooker! It is about 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water. Since I cook for the entire week's lunch, I do 2 cups quinoa and 3.5 cups water (that is all my cooker can fit)  in my rice cooker. In about 45 min it is done.

You can use whatever veggies you want, but this is what was in my fridge this week.

Saute 5 carrots, garlic and pepper to taste, and a bunch of green onions (the white and green parts) for about 5 min.
Add 1/2 a cauliflower and a bunch of broccoli to the mix and saute about 5 more min.
Add 4 large handfuls of swiss chard and a bell pepper and cook about 5 min.
Add in the cooked quinoa, 5 tbspns of Low sodium Soy Sauce, and 5 tbspns of Sesame Seed Oil.
Add in 4 tbspn of butter (of Olive Oil to keep vegan)

You can obviously make less, but like I said I cook our lunch for the week so I make 10 servings of this stuff at a time. Hubby, Baby Joy, and I love this! It is also a crowd pleaser.

Say Yum !

Italian Ratatouille

This can be made stove top or in a crock pot. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand, but this is what I used today.

4 large tomatoes diced
1 container of cherry tomatoes
3 zucchini
3 squash
1 eggplant
2 bell peppers
1 bag or spinach
2 tbspn of diced garlic
1/4 cup of chives
1 tbspn pepper
I use fresh herbs from the garden - garlic, rosemary, basil, and oregano.
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce. (I like organic Classico)

You can eat this as a stew (which a ratatouille is) or you can eat it like a tomato sauce over pasta.

Environmentally Friendly & Money Saving Tips

Not a recipe this time, but part of living Green is being Green... Here are some environmentally friendly tips that also double as money saving tips. 


1) Become a paperless household - no paper towels, no paper napkins, no disposable diapers - no paper other than toilet paper, and there are some people that even use cloth for that.

• Cloth Diaper - it isn't what it used to be. I use gdiapers 100% cloth option, which basically work like disposables in terms of how you put them on the baby - put have an outside cloth, an inside cloth, and a snap liner to hold the inside cloth in place. Even my husband loves them. We paid about $400 originally for everything and we have never had to pay anything else since. Honestly that originally money was mostly gifts/gift cards so not much of that came out of our pocket.
•  Cloth wipes - You can also do cloth baby wipes. I understand why many don't do this - and quite honestly I dont either (hubby won't let me). Instead I buy seventh generation wipes on Amazon in bulk and spend about $5 a month on wipes (1 box lasts us about 2 months). Amazon has a great Amazon Mom program that will give you discounts on diapers (if you do paper), wipes, and lots of other baby products. 
•  Cloth Pads - Yep, I said it - cloth pantiliners and pads (I like the brand Gladrags). I think that is all I need to say about the matter. 
• Cloth Napkins - Reuse! Buy or make cloth napkins and use those instead of paper towels or paper napkins
• Dish towels - Instead of using papertowels, I clean my house with dish towels. I even clean my floors with them instead of having a mop (I clip them into a swiffer and use that instead). 

2) Cleaning Products- You don't need all of these fancy cleaners! Back in the good old days people cleaned their entire house with just baking soda and vinegar. (If you dont like the smell you can add water and lemon). Vinegar and lemon are natural anti-bacterials. Clean your glass (wont leave smear marks!), your floors and counters (I let the baking soda foam when I do these and then do a second and third rinse with just vinegar and then just water again to make sure there is no residue), clean all your furniture -even wood with vinegar. Use baking soda on your tile, toilets, and shower/tub. It is that simple. 

3) You can always be extreme and make your own laundry detergent. There are a ton of different recipes; just google "make your own laundry detergent"

4) Go Vegetarian - if not for all of your meals - a lot of them. Beans, lentils, brown rice, soy, quinoa, leafy greens, corn, squash, and dairy are all low cost sources of calcium and protein with lots of other good vitamins and minerals mixed in there. 

5) Buy in bulk - Amazon.com, Costco, and Sams all have great bulk options that cost a little more right this second (ie you cant spread out the cost over a number of weeks) but cost you way less per ounce. You also use less packaging! 

6) In some areas you  need heaters and air conditioners. In California you can probably sweat/chill it out just a little bit. During the winter, set the thermostat to keep the house warmer than 62; in the summer set it to keep the house cooler than 85 and use fans. Unplug anything that you are not using and turn off the lights if you dont need them. Use natural light whenever possible. This will save you money on electricity. Now don't give me a look on this one. I lived in Texas for 6 years - where it is humid as hell, we had over 100 degree temps for 45 days straight during the summer, and during the winter it got down to the teens. My thermostat was set to not get hotter than 90 in the house during the summer and not colder than 50 in the house during the winter. Once we had the baby we made it no colder than 60 and no hotter than 85 - so if we can do it, so can you. 

7) Buy things that arent in packaging. You can get some good bulk deals even at places like Wholefoods and Safeway when you bring in your own containers and fill up from the dry goods sections (beans, lentils, rice, popcorn, snacks, granola, etc). We use reusable produce bags, reusable containers for dry goods, and reusable grocery bags -- this means when we go to the store all we bring with us is food. 

8) Eat local - less gas to get the food to you! This way the food will also be fresher and more nutritious.  Look for a local co-op, a local farm, or even a group delivery -- bountifulbaskets.com and farmfreshtoyou.com are both great choices. 

9) Use all of your food--. Seems pretty self explanatory, but you would be surprised how much people waste food. We are all busy. In the past, I mad a menu and shopped just for it- now we do a local farm delivery box and cant choose what we get, but when I get the goods then I make a menu based on it. Then I cook our lunches for the week on Sunday and put them in the fridge or freezer for us to grab and take to work. This way nothing goes bad. Freeze what you arent using - use the fruit for smoothies later (and some of the veggies for smoothies too). 

Good luck with these easy tips! 

Now that's what I call vegan protein

Did you know that when you eat corn, squash, and beans together you have a complete protein -- that is some power food - or as they say on my little one's favorite channel "sport's candy". 

This recipe puts all three together and can be served with or without cheese to keep it vegan or to add even more protein. 

2 squash
1 zucchini 
1 cob of corn (Cut off the kernals) 
pepper and cumin to taste
3 cups of black beans (or 1 can) 
1 cup cheese or 1 avocado (if keeping vegan) 

Saute all ingredients but the cheese for about 15 min. Add cheese and saute for about 5 more min. Serve with tortillas. Say Yum!