Delicious Deviled Eggs with Vegenaise

For Memorial Day I made the traditional Deviled Eggs and used Vegenaise (Soy Free) for a GREAT taste and it's heart healthy. These eggs disappeared within 15 minutes and I made them twice for two different parties!!!

If you like Deviled Eggs but you don't want all the cholesterol from the mayo, try Vegenaise and select the brand that best fits your taste.  Here's a comparison chart to compare your mayo with Vegenaise:  http://followyourheart.com/are-you-ready-to-make-the-switch/  

Deviled Egg Recipe:
 

8 large eggs, hard boiled & peeled
1/4 cup Vegenaise
1 1/2 tablespoons Miss Jenny's Bread & Butter pickle juice
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Salt and pepper, for taste
Paprika, for garnishing

Our favorite Flax Muffin

These are Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Flax Seed Muffins!  My 11 year old LOVES them for breakfast or a snack.  I buy them at Whole Foods or Sprouts and I bet Trader Joes would have them.  They cost about $6.99 for the 4 and I find them in a freezer near the bakery at Sprouts.  They have 4400 mg of Omega 3 per muffin AND 10 Grams of fiber, SO good for you!!! Microwave for 30 seconds or until the chocolate starts to melt....it's OH SO YUMMY!  Enjoy!

MSG - Say No!!!

So many of you are wanting to clean up your diet and want a step by step plan on how to do that.  The first thing you should do is go to your pantry and read the labels.  Look for MSG and throw these items away or take them to the food pantry near you!  Here's a partial list to help you get started:

• Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
• Glutamate anything
• Glutamic Acid
• Hydrolyzed anything
• Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten
• Hydrolyzed Pea Protein
• Plant Protein
• Textured Protein
• Autolyzed anything
• Autolyzed Yeast Extract
• Autolyzed Plant Protein
• Yeast Extract
• Yeast Nutrient
• Caseinate anything
• Calcium Caseinate
• Sodium Caseinate
• Gelatin
• Aspartame (any artificial sugar)

The next ingredients listed do not contain MSG, but are added to activate MSG already contained in the food product. These two chemicals are very expensive and have no other function. If you find them on the label you can be assured that MSG is present.

• Disodium Guanylate
• Disodium Inosinate

This information came from the following article.  I suggest you take the time to read the symptoms associated with Toxic poisoning to see if any ring a bell with you.  
http://www.saynotomsg.com/basics_list.php 

Super Easy Red Beans & Rice with Raw Veggies

So today was one of those VERY busy days!  When this happens I prefer to have a meal waiting for us around 6:00pm.  This is one of my favorite recipes and the kids like it too, hubby eats anything I put on the table but Spaghetti Squash!

Red Beans and Rice with a veggie tray or a very unofficial handful of raw veggies for each person.

1 pkg Dry Red Beans rinsed (NOT kidney beans)
4 C. water
1 whole red onion diced
3 cloves of fresh garlic
3 t. dried cilantro or a sprig of fresh
2 t. garlic powder
1 T. coconut amino
Salt & Pepper to taste
1-3 t. Old Bay Seasoning (more or less to make it spicy)
optional: Spicy sausage cut up into 1 inch bites

Mix ALL in crockpot and cook for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on High.  Adjust the water to your liking, use more for juicier beans and less for thicker beans.  We like juice so we can put it over rice.

White Rice - If you will be out all day, put in a the rice cooker and set the delay timer so it's done when you want to serve dinner.  

When you get home get out the fresh colorful veggies (Carrots, Sugar Snap peas, Cherry tomatoes, & Celery). Serve with Red Beans & Rice, Super Easy!

My Favorite Quick Cookies!

So I've had requests for dessert ideas.  These cookies are my absolute favorite and they are Gluten/Dairy Free.  My kids LOVE them too and they are so easy to make.  The brand is Immaculate Baking Company. You can buy them at Whole Foods, Sprouts & HEB in our community.  HEB has the best prices at $3.29!  The price can range up to $5.00 a package depending on the store.  You find these in the refrigerated section by the eggs or Nestle Toll House cookies.  You break them apart, lay them on a cookie sheet and I smash ours a little so they are thinner (our preference), bake for 17 minutes and enjoy!!!  My family now prefers these over regular choco chip cookies. 

Reading Issues

Does your son or daughter have trouble reading in school?  Have you had their vision checked for tracking problems?  My son couldn't read in Kindergarten and his writing was horrible!!!  I took him to a specialist who tested him using little goggles to see how his tracking was doing.  I was amazed!!!!  His eye movement was all over the place, one eye went left while the other went right and rarely did they move together.  The eye doctor prescribed prism glasses and he was reading in about a month!!  What a huge difference the glasses made in his life.  Here's a link to a similar test like he took: http://www.micromedical.com/visualeyes.html. 

Signs of your child having vision problems are starring out into space. Looking up and back down at the page quickly to refocus while reading.....many reading instructors see this as a "tick" however the child is trying to follow the line and refocus.  Taking deep breathes while reading.  I know this sounds crazy but have you ever been nervous and took deep breathes to help you cope with the situation.  My son would stop after every line and take a deep breathe....drove the teacher's nuts.  Once we put him in the glasses, the reading came very quickly and all his reading habits disappeared.  Now he has a major love for reading and owns a kindle to download books!  I suggest teaching your child to use their finger and point to every word so they don't lose their place in the line and have them tested....what could it hurt!

Recipes - Turkey Meatloaf, Green Beans & Rice

So one of our favorite meals is Turkey Meatloaf, Green Beans & Rice.  Here are my recipes:

2 lb. lean ground turkey (organic preferred)

¼ c. Applesauce (makes it fluffy)

2 Eggs

2 t. chopped garlic

1 small onion diced

2 T. liquid Coconut aminos

¼ t. garlic powder

1 t. chopped fresh or ¼ t. dried sage leaves

½ t. salt

Small squirt prepared mustard

Squirt of ketchup

¼ t. pepper

2 slices gluten free bread torn into small pieces (O'dough's brand preferred)

Topping

½ c. ketchup or BBQ sauce

Small squirt of mustard

Splash of coconut aminos

After putting meat in a greased 9 x 13 pan, cover it with the topping to keep it moist

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Bake uncovered 1 hr to 1- 15min….themometer should read 160 degrees in middle

Green Beans - Fresh or if you're in a hurry, use Low Sodium Green Beans with no preservatives.  Add your own Salt and onion for flavor.

Rice - We like Black Rice with Meatloaf but you could use any kind.  I prefer to change up my rice (brown, black, jasmine, white) because they all have different health benefits.  Put in a Rice cooker early and set the timer if you have one.  

Who Am I?

Well this is the first of many posts I will make in the next few months.  

We are a family of four and have altered our way of living drastically over the past 6 years.  I use to be a working Mom in the corporate world of software.  But when my youngest son started school it was time to say Good-bye to working and hello to staying home!  I'm SO glad I made this decision because our 5 year old (now 11) struggled thru Kindergarten.  He was full of food allergies/issues along with minor health problems.  My oldest son is 13 and has the usual allergies to pollen.  I have learned SO much over the past 6 years that some think I'm a "White Witch" (You know who you are) and others want me to share my experiences and recipes so they can clean up their diet.  So here goes....the first of many posts that I hope you will find entertaining and useful in your own lives and families.