Category: recipes

September 22, 2015

Healthy Southwest Macaroni and Cheese #GetNudged

Fall is the perfect time of year to enjoy a nice, warm bowl of macaroni and cheese. I know my two boys are HUGE fans of all that cheesy goodness. As a family we like to add a little bit of variety to our bowl of macaroni and cheese (keeps meal time exciting!).

The Nudge macaroni and cheese product line has quickly become a favourite in our home. The four different types of macaroni and cheese are all:

made with organic ingredients
made with grass-fed dairy
peanut free
non GMO ingredients
no artificial colours, preservatives or flavours
a source of Omega 3 fatty acids (from the grass-fed dairy and flax pasta)

Awesome right?

To spice it up a little, try a spin on one of my favourite recipes, Southwest macaroni and cheese.

Ingredients

one box of Nudge macaroni and cheese
2 tbsp margarine or butter
5 tbsp of milk
1 tbsp of coconut oil
one green pepper
one cup of black beans (drained and washed)
one cup of diced tomatoes (I like to use fresh but you can also used canned)
three garlic cloves

Directions

Prepare the box of Nudge macaroni and cheese as directed and set aside.

In a frying pan, warm up the coconut oil and add in the green peppers and garlic gloves. Allow them to cook until softened and golden.

Add in the black beans and cook for one to two minutes.

Add in the cup of diced tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes are softened. On a medium setting on our stove this took just under five minutes. You can use salt or pepper if desired to taste.

Mix in the tomatoes, black beans and green peppers with the macaroni and cheese.

Enjoy your southwest macaroni and cheese! Do you have a favourite macaroni and cheese recipe?

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 16, 2015

Five Ingredient No Bake Granola Bars

I love simple, good for you recipes. When it comes to crunch time, I need something I can make in a big batch, quickly and with little mess. Granola bars fit these requirements to the T but I don’t want granola that is full of extra ingredients. I want something natural and as few ingredients as possible.

These simple to prepare and even simpler to make no bake granola bars are my favourite. I can make these quickly on a Sunday night and have a weeks worth of granola bars ready for us to enjoy on the run or as a healthy snack before dinner. They have quickly become an easy and satisfying snack to consume on the run to work, between practices or even as a sweet tooth craving at night.

Ingredients:

four cups of oatmeal
1 and 1/2 cup of peanut butter
3/4 cup of honey
3 boxes of raisins
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Directions

Cover a rectangular pain in parchment paper and set aside.

Combine all the ingredients into one bowl. Mix the ingredients together well and until all the dry ingredients are ‘wet’ and sticking together.

Transfer the mixed ingredients into the rectangular container on top of the parchment paper (this will help with easy removal of the granola afterwards). Push down to ensure the ingredients bind together well.

Put the container in the fridge and allow it to remain in there for at least two hours.

When you are ready to eat the granola, cut yourself out a piece and enjoy!

This granola recipe stayed well in our fridge for the entire week.

September 11, 2015

Make Meal Time Easy and Healthy With Nudge Foods Vegetable Mac N Cheese #GetNudged

Simple Weeknight Gluten Free Mac N Cheese with Nudge Foods

It is hard to resist the creamy, satisfying and just overall goodness of macaroni and cheese. It is a meal that all family members love but making it from scratch can be difficult during the busy school week, we just don’t have time for that. What I am not okay with is unhealthy ingredients that make you cringe not to mention that you can’t even say the names on some of the boxed products.

So how do you find a simple boxed macaroni and cheese that helps you eat better? Enter Nudge Foods. The Nudge team set out to create a product that not only tasted great but also be a product that you would be confident to bring into your home.

The result: four macaroni and cheese products that are:

made with organic ingredients
made with grass-fed dairy
peanut free
non GMO ingredients
no artificial colours, preservatives or flavours
a source of Omega 3 fatty acids (from the grass-fed dairy and flax pasta)

My family and I were quite impressed with the creamy taste of the macaroni and cheese, good doesn’t have to taste yucky!. The gluten free shells were fantastic and delicious, sometimes gluten free pasta can be quite textured and almost mushy tasting but the shells maintained their shape and texture with a great taste.

While the Nudge Macaroni and Cheese variety is perfect on its own, why not shake it up a little bit and add in vegetables to not only fill you up faster but add even more nutrient value to your meal.

Ingredients

one box of Nudge Foods Gluten Free White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese
margarine or butter (2 tbsp)
milk (5 tbsp)
one zucchini and one carrot (other great vegetable combos are: spinach and red pepper, mushrooms and green beans)
one tbsp of coconut oil
ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare the macaroni and cheese as directed on the box.

While the macaroni is cooking, cut up your carrots and zucchini. I like to quarter my zucchini and shred my carrots. In a separate pan, add the coconut oil, zucchini and carrots and cook until tender. Add the black pepper as desired.

Once the macaroni is fully cooked, drain the pasta and mix in the butter/margarine and milk. Add the cooked vegetable mixture to the macaroni and cheese and mix.

Serve and enjoy!

Make sure you follow Nudge Foods on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date. Watch out for another simple, week night recipe using Nudge Foods that your children will love.

Watch out next week for a new recipe using my kids favourite the elbow macaroni and cheese!

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 14, 2015

Strawberry Oatmeal Cups

As part of my committment to healthy living and cleaner eating, one of the first areas I needed to clean up was my breakfast. I used to always opt for quick and easy which sometimes meant I was not choosing the healthiest options that I could have. So I wanted to combine my favourite ingredients, oatmeal and strawberries, to make a simple, clean and easy to eat on the go breakfast item.

These easy to prepare oatmeal cups were a huge hit not only in my house but also at work. They are light on the stomach (no flour!) but still sweet and satisfying will all the fruits that are added in.

Ingredients

one egg
one tsp vanilla extract
one cup unsweetened applesauce
one banana (mashed)
1/4 cup of honey
2 1/2 cups of rolled oats
one tbsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/4 cups of milk (or almond milk)
seven to eight strawberries thinly sliced

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Mix together the egg, vanilla extract, applesauce, mashed banana and honey all in one large bowl.

Add in the oats, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Make sure to mix these ingredients together well.

Add in the thinly sliced strawberries to your mixture and mix well.

Evenly place the mixture in muffin liners in a tray. Pour roughly enough mixture to fill about 3/4 of each liner.

Cook in the oven for roughly thirty minutes or until a toothpick is inserted in the middle of each muffin and comes out clean.

Enjoy!

July 16, 2015

Up Your Grill Game This Summer With Vegetables and Fruits #CelebrateCanada

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Weber Grills Canada for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Canada Day marked not only our 148th birthday but also the start of the Canadian outdoor summer season (which let’s be honest, isn’t near long enough!). Summer is the perfect time to get outside, get active and spend quality time together as a family. Our weekends are usually spent by the pool in the backyard, relaxing and just enjoying each others company. Our weekend time together is very important to us and we use this time to remind us what is most important in life, family.

And what better way to top off this quality time with, then with delicious food straight off the grill (spoken like a true Italian Canadian girl, eh!).

The days of traditional grilling are long gone and there is pretty much nothing you can not cook on your Weber grill. While hamburgers and hot dogs are still fun, why not try to spice up your grill a bit by giving your recipes flavour and variety.

While my husband tends to lean towards steak, chicken and pork (he could live off this combination of food everyday), I like to balance out our meals with veggies and fruits (yes, you can grill fruits and they even taste great!). Some of the best fruits to grill include: watermelon, pineapple and pears. Just make sure your grill is clean and on a low temperature before grilling your fruits.

Creating mouth-watering vegetables that are not overdone or dry, is easy when you grill them in tin foil. Follow these easy steps for delicious vegetables that are perfect on the side or added on top of a steak or chicken sandwich:

For this recipe you need:

large rectangular shaped piece of tin foil
vegetables of your choice (I used mushrooms, onions, red peppers and zucchini) cut up in small slices
one tbsp of olive oil
garlic powder and Montreal steak spice to taste

Make a tray with your tin foil and line the inside of the tray with olive oil. Place your vegetables and mix the vegetables together to coat them with the olive oil. Add your spices to taste.

Use the remainder of the tin foil to create a lid for your vegetables. Place the tin foil directly onto the grill at medium to low heat and cook until done.

If you really want to shake things up a bit, why not try naan vegetable pizza on the grill? Using some of the leftover zucchini from above and tomatoes, you can create a nutritious appetizer that will please any picky eater.

Just lightly coat one side of the naan bread with olive oil, add the zucchini, diced tomatoes and some ricotta cheese. When you place this on the grill make sure you are doing so at a low temperature so you do not burn the bottom of the bread. Remove the pizza when the bottom is golden.

Grilling up nutritious fare is an important part of outdoor fun and can be made that much more exciting when you experiment outside of the box.

What is your favourite recipe for the grill?

If you are looking for more grilling fun, check out Weber Grills You Tube Channel, full of helpful tips, recipes (Sangria – yes please!) and more.

WeberGrillsCA YouTube