Just found my new favorite purse snack!

Purse. Diaperbag. Backpack. Desk, wherever you keep your out and about snack foods these need to go in the rotation. Seriously! I got a dozen of them at Winco and im going back for more. You get 5 for $1 and they are all natural no sugar no nothin' added. Woot woot! So perfect for trips out hiking or to the pool or when I just don't want think about what to snack on while at home.

Mmmm delicious fruit leathers.

Cous-cous

Just a quick easy side dish. So quick it only takes like 6minutes from the moment you decide to make it to the moment you get to actually eat it. Cous cous is a kind of pasta but you'd think it was a kind of rice if you've never had it. They are super tiny pasta balls (kinda resembling rice cernals) and I love the change in texture it provides. Love!

"Near East" has some scrumptious flavors but it is a little pricy (like $2/box) compaired to just buying plain cous-cous and adding your own flavors (which is like $0.15/serving for the whole wheat cous-cous i got at Winco)

All you do it heat up 1 cup water on the stove and add 1 chicken (or veggie) boullion cube, about 1 tsp chili powder and 1/2 tsp garlic
Bring it to a boil and pour in 1 cup cous-cous
Remove it from the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Fluff with a fork and enjoy :)

Pork tenderloin with Maple glaze

1 pork tenderloin
1 tsp dried sage (also good with terragon)
salt and pepper
2 tsp olive oil
5 tbsp pure maple syrup
5 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp dejon mustard
rub pork with dried sage sea salt and pepper heat olive oil in large skillet over med-hi heat onve it's hot add the pork tenderloin and cook untill it's brown on all sides, turning occasionally, about 5-6 minutes. reduce heat to medium low, insert a meat thermometer in the thickets part and cover and cook til thermometer registers 150' turning occasionally, about 10 minutes longer.
 transfer prk to a platter and cover with aluminum foil tent to keep warm.
whisk together maple syrup apple sider vinegar and mustard in the same pan the pork was cooked in be sure to scrape up any burned bits and mix in with the sauce (it'll add good flavor). bring to a boil then reduce to med heat and cook until the sauce thickens a bit, 2-3 minutes. return pork to the skillet to coat in the glaze. then you can pull it out and cut into 1/2 inch slices. spoon additionall glaze over the sliced pork and serve.

Swiss Chard and baked sweet potato

I haven't really jumped on the "meatless mondays" bandwagon like Ive seen so many people do but I do ramdomly make dinner that doesn't have any meat in it. (Half the time it's because i'm too lazy to prepair/cook the meat :) ) Anywho, when I got this big bunch of swiss chard I had no idea what to do with it. I'd never eaten swiss chard before so I wasn't even sure what it tasted like. I found this recipe that looked really promising and I've got to tell ya, it was a pretty good quick, easy, and filling dinner.

Ingredients:

-1 large sweet potato, cut into 1-inch chunks
-1 bunch swiss chard
-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
-1 tsp. ground nutmeg
- cheese of your choice (I used shredded colby jack but mozzarella, Parmesan  or cheddar would work well too)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place diced sweet potato onto one side of the baking sheet with the stems of the chard on the other. Sprinkle a little olive oil and cheese on the chard stems and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
2. Wash the swiss chard and chop the leaves into 2-inch wide strips. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large pan. Add swiss chard, garlic and red pepper flakes to pan, toss swiss chard around the pan until it starts to wilt a little.
3. Place lid on pan and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
4. Remove sweet potato chunks from oven and toss into pan with swiss chard for last few minutes of cooking.
5. Sprinkle ground nutmeg over the swiss chard and sweet potatoes. Toss them together and serve with the stems on the side.

Smoothies

Have you seen all the "green smoothie" hype going around? Well there is good reason for it! Smoothies can be full of hundreds of discretionary calories OR they can be some of the HEALTHIEST things you eat ALL DAY!
If you are like me (and most of the rest of America) you don't get nearly enough vegetables, especially your dark green cancer fighting, nutrient dense goodness (I'm talkin' iron, calcium, potassium, vitamins B C K and E not to mention the fiber). The trick with these green smoothies is to acclimate your taste buds. If you just jump right in with 2 cups of greens add some flax (or chia) and protein powder with a handful of berries you are going to hate it. Start with something you will Look Forward to eating and build from there.

As you get used to the less sweet taste of your home made smoothies add more and more greens to it. You will feel FAN-freakin-TASTIC if allow yourself to enjoy a nutritious smoothie everyday.

Here is a great way to start.

1/3 cup frozen chopped spinach
Like 4 or 5 frozen cauliflower florets
1/4 cup frozen mixed berries (ive found that target has the best price for Big 3lb bags of mixed berries [like $7] and tropical fruit [like $10])
And like 1/2 cup (or more if it doesn't mix up well) of walmart brand of the v8 Fusion stuff or orange juice.

Play around with it and add fresh tomatoes or some other veggie that you have in the fridge.
Frozen cauliflower works well but broccoli not so well, carrots don't mix up well raw but would work fine if they were cooked to be softer, we've put frozen peppers in and those worked well too they do add a slight peppery taste unlike the cauliflour or zucchini or yellow squash which just kinda help mute the taste of the greens.

I don't really like adding yogurt but sometimes ill do half juice half milk.

Remember: variety is the spice of life! As amazing as spinach is for you with all that K and folate in it change up the greens you use with kale, swiss chard, and romaine lettuce. Try a variety of other vegetables and fruits too to make sure you are getting a great balance of vitamins and minerals.

Chocolate Cake

I promise I'll post some more dinners soon :) but today it's chocolate cake. ReAlly good chocolate cake. As silly as it may be, when I test out recipe after recipe for somethings I'm really trying to recreate a box version...without the preservatives and stuff. It's just the perfect amount of fluffyness and moistness and ... chocolatey-ness. So next time you want a devils food cake try this one instead. You wont be dissappointed!

1 1/4 cup cocoa
2 1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 lg eggs and 1 egg white
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 1/4 butter milk
1/2 c vegetabel oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350