Oh lasagna.....you come in so many forms. But I'm tired of the same tomato based, marinara lasagna. It's time for something new!!! So I created my very own lasagna that includes 3 vegetables; spinach, artichokes, and mushrooms, and chicken in a rich creamy white sauce. It's kind of like spinach artichoke dip on steroids and as a nutritious dinner :)

Since this was a creation of multiple recipes, bare with me as I try to unfold it in the easiest way. It wasn't hard to make at all but writing it down and putting it together in a nice form so all of you can understand, now that's the tricky part!

There are only 2 pans involved for this recipe; one for the sauce and one to cook the noodles.

1. Go ahead and get that large pot of water started. When it comes to a boil you will add half of the lasagna noodles from the box. I baked this dish  in a 9x9 pan and did 3 layers. If you want to use a larger pan then just cook more noodles! It is better to cook more than less. You don't want to get to the end of the recipe and start putting it together and then run out of noodles and have to boil some more :(

2. While the noodles are doing their thing, let's start on the sauce. In a hot pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/3 cup chopped white onion, and 1 teaspoon garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are transparent. About 3-4 minutes.

3. When the onions are done, whisk in 3 tablespoons flour. Stir until all onions are covered.

4. Gradually add 1 cup of chicken broth and 2 cups of milk. Whisk constantly until all ingredients are blended well. Bring to a simmer.

5. Add 1 cup of mushrooms (if you use fresh mushrooms then steam first so they become soft), 1 cups of spinach (again if you use fresh spinach, steam first and drain), and 2 cups of chopped artichoke hearts.

6. Bring the pan to a simmer again and then add 2 cups of shredded chicken. You can choose to leave this out if you want to make it meat-less! I didn't show me cooking any shredded chicken because I always buy a large rotisserie chicken at the beginning of the week and shred it immediately and place in the fridge and then use it in all of my meals for that week. It makes life so much easier. But if you didn't have any pre-shredded chicken then dice and cook 1 pound of chicken and add.

7. Lastly, add 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese and 1 cup of Parmesan cheese. Stir everything until melted and blended well. About 5 minutes.

8. Now it's the assembly time! Spray your baking pan with non-stick spray and then lay down three rows of lasagna noodles and cover well with your mixture.

9. Repeat 3 times, meaning you should lay down 3 layers of noodles or 9 all together. When you get to the top, leave a little bit of mixture and spread out evenly on top and then cover with 1/2 cup of pepper jack cheese and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Place in the oven at 375 degrees for 35 minutes!

See not that bad!

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1/2 box of cooked lasagna noodles
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/3 cup chopped white onion
1 tsp. garlic
3 tbsp. flour
1 cup chicken broth
2 cup  milk
1 cup mushrooms
1 cup cooked spinach or (one 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained)
2 cups chopped artichoke hearts (that is one 14 oz. can)
2 cups shredded chicken (remember rotisserie chicken is a life saver)
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

on top-
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

I really haven't posted anything about breakfast recipes yet because it is so hard to find a recipe that most people don't already know. It's always the same things: french toast, pancakes, let's make it pumpkin, smoothies, etc. But I felt like this breakfast post was note worthy because of how simple, easy, and healthy it is. But let me warn you, if you are expecting this recipe to be the sweet, extremely flavorful muffin or bread recipe to match the (to die for) Costco muffins, then you are looking in the wrong place. Now don't turn away so fast... these muffins are on a whole different level. It is only made sweet by natural whole ingredients and it leaves you feeling light and energized because you haven't weighed yourself down with loads of butter or sugar.

Take a look at the ingredients....super easy right?! The natural sweetness comes from the bananas and honey.

1. All you have to do is mix all the ingredients at the same time into a mixing bowl and with a hand mixer blend really well for 1-2 minutes.

2. Spray your muffin or bread pan with non-stick cooking spray so they pop out easily and fill them half way.

3. Preheat your oven at 350 degrees and bake for 18 minutes for muffins and 22 minutes for bread. If you are unsure it is cooked all the way, stick a toothpick in the middle and it should come out clean!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 18-22 minutes
Yields: 6 muffins and 1 bread loaf or 12+ muffins

Ingredients:

2.5 cups oats
2 ripe bananas
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tbsp. Chia seeds
1 cup plain low fat Greek yogurt
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Alright! This will be the last juicing post for a while. Sometimes I get in a rut and I keep making the same juices over and over again so I will come back to it later when I get some more inspiration :)

So here are my last 3 juices that make up another day!

#1: Carrot, Orange, and Radish

Ingredients:

3 carrots
2-3 oranges
3 radishes


Radishes are extremely good for you but they have a very strong taste so don't add too many! Radishes are great when you are juicing for healthy reasons because they detoxify everything and help stubborn toxins and food to digest!

(I forgot to take a picture of the juice.... but it was orange! haha)


#2: Pineapple - Spinach

Hands down the best drink I have ever made! Seriously

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped pineapple
1 large bunch of spinach (the more the better)
1 lemon

#3: Beets and Berries

Ingredients:

1 large beet
2 radishes
5 strawberries
2 handfuls of blueberries

Now to the kale chips! You have all heard the rage about baking kale chips and how they are such an amazing and healthier treat to replace your normal potato chip and ya ya ya.... well its true! I am always such a skeptic (probably not a good thing) but I don't believe it until I see or taste it. Like seriously, how good can baking some green leafy vegetable be as good as a potato chip? But its true!!! Since I have been juicing a lot this week I have tons a kale in my fridge so I decided to put this to the test.

I found a very eye catching recipe to try with my kale instead of just doing the regular olive oil and salt. I tweaked it a little and I call it....

Honey-Mustard Kale Chips (so original I know)

Ingredients:

4 cups kale
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Steps:

1. With your kale, break it up into chip size pieces. About 2 to 3 inch pieces.
2. Place 4 cups of the kale pieces in a gallon size baggie along with your liquids; olive oil and honey.
3. Seal the bag really tight and shake the ingredients really well so that all pieces are covered.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the bag; mustard and garlic powder, and again shake really well in the bag until you think all the pieces are evenly coated.
5. Place the kale pieces on a baking sheet and spread them out so that they aren't really touching. You don't want them to be stuck together when they are done!

6. Bake in oven for 205 degrees (yes 205 not 250) for 50 minutes. Flip the pieces after 30 minutes!

These are seriously good!

But did you know....you can treat spinach leaves the same as kale leaves and they are just as delicious!!!!!

Well happy healthy eating everyone :)

If you haven't checked out the first post I did about juicing, check it out here! In the first post I wrote, I talked about what color of juice you should have at each meal of the day and to be careful about not loading up on too many fruits but at least try to keep it half and half of fruits and vegetables. The ideal amount would be 80/20, where you would have 80% of your juice be from vegetables and 20% be from fruits. This is the case because of all the sugar that is hidden in fruit.

But today I want to share some fun knowledge and websites that have helped me over the years.

The first one is the website from the documentary, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." Like I mentioned in my previous post this is where I first got my inspiration to juice. This website has gone a long way since 3 years ago and I love it! They have detailed plans on how to juice, recipes, support groups, eating, fitness, and so much more. Check it out here. It also shares how to prep and clean your fruits and vegetables as well as how you should stick it in your juicer, like what to remove or don't remove.

Another website that helps me track my vitamin and mineral intake when I juice is healthy-alternatives. Click here for the website. This website talks about each mineral, vitamin, fruit, vegetable, nuts and seeds, legumes, and protein. It breaks it down with the amount you should eat, calorie intake for each serving, and the amount of each mineral and vitamin the fruit or vegetable has. They even took it a step further and made it into printable charts. I have printed them off and put them in sheet protectors and keep them right in my kitchen next to my recipe books.

Another thing I have researched is the amount of each vitamin or mineral you should be getting every day. There are tons of websites out there to receive this information but I have narrowed it down to the important ones (well to me)!

Vitamin A: 700 mcg, 2333 IU
Vitamin B6: 1.3 mg
Vitamin B12: 2.4 mcg
Vitamin C: 75 mg
Vitamin D: 15 mcg, 200 IU
Vitamin E: 15 mg, 33 IU
Vitamin K: 120 mcg
Calcium: 1000 mg
Iron: 18 mg
Folate (folic acid): 400 mcg

mcg: micrograms
mg: milligrams
1000 mcg = 1 mg
IU: International Units is used for the measurement of drugs and vitamins


One last fun fact! Did you know that lemons, limes, and grapefruit don't really count as a fruit because their sugar level is so low? Neat huh!

Alright are you ready for another day of juicing recipes that will cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner?! I am!

#1. Carrot, Spinach, and Grapefruit

Ingredients:

3 carrots
1 oro blanco grapefruit (its a white grapefruit but any grapefruit would work, you peel it just like an orange)
1 orange
spinach leaves

Note: when you mix a lot of orange and then green you get a drink with a brown color but don't let that stop you! haha it tastes just fine. Also, this drink is a little bit bitter so if you don't like grapefruit then maybe stay away.

#2. Cucumber, Pear, and Kale

Ingredients:

1 cucumber
2 pears
1 green apple
kale

#3: Sweet Potato, Plums, and Blackberries

Ingredients: 

1 large sweet potato (I peeled mine)

2-3 plums

handful of blackberries

This drink was almost like a smoothie and packed with so many antioxidants!!!

Note: When you create your own juices, try to keep them simple. 3-4 ingredients. That way you don't have so much going on that you don't even know what you are drinking. Vegetables are hard to cover up the taste and I completely understand that, so people try to over do it and it just turns into a mess haha. A citrus fruit like lemon, lime, or grapefruit covers up earthy tastes like celery, ginger, or cucumber. Just squeeze a little bit in your drink at the end and you're good to go!

If you have ever been to Pizza Factory and ordered off of their pasta menu you may have run into Zucchini Noddles. If you haven't, you are missing out! This meal got it's inspiration from the Pizza Factory but I wanted to take it one step further and make a pesto sauce out of vegetables too. The whole meal is grain and dairy free and 100% vegetarian!

First, let me introduce you to my favorite kitchen tool! The Julienne Peeler. It is like a regular vegetable peeler but it has ridges in it to peel the vegetable in strings. I got mine from Williams-Sonoma for only $9.95. They are still available, just click here!

With this meal, you want to start on the pesto sauce first.

1. First you need to steam your broccoli and spinach. Cut up 3 cups of broccoli and about a cup and a half of spinach leaves. Then steam until soft.

2. In a food processor, blend all the ingredients together until it is smooth. About 15 seconds is all.

The wonderful thing about pesto is that you can enjoy it on a few different things like as a sandwich spread or as a noodle sauce.

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped broccoli
1.5 cups spinach leaves
1/2 lemon, juice
1 tsp. garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. water
pepper to taste


Now on to the noddle part, which is extremely easy. With your julienne peeler, slice up one zucchini and one carrot.

After your broccoli and spinach are done steaming for the pesto sauce, toss your carrot and zucchini noodles in and they only take about 5 minutes to soften up. Then enjoy your meal!

My husband isn't an extreme vegetable lover like I am but still enjoys his veggies, so I made him a few fettuccine noodles as well and it still is really healthy!

Are you feeling crummy? Do you want to have more energy? Have you had all your vitamins and daily recommendation of fruit and vegetables? Did you know juicing is a fast and easy way to fix all of those questions? Sure is!

I first got my inspiration to start juicing 3 years ago when I watched the very popular documentary, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." To me the point was very simple: if you want to get rid of nasty toxins in your body and help aide in weight loss the healthy way, then juice! So I bought a juicer and went to town. Of course following a diet and healthy plan. But the juicing possibilities were endless and I loved creating my own recipes. So I am here to share with you some of my favorite juicing recipes that are actually good! Taste-wise I mean...they are all really good for your body :)

I follow the rule that your juices should go: Orange, Green, Red/Purple

Drink orange in the morning. Drink green in the afternoon. And drink red or purple at night. So pick fruit and vegetables that will give you those colors.

I also follow my own simple rule of: half fruit and half vegetable juice in each serving. All of the following recipes should give you about 20 oz. of fluid.

It is so easy to load up on the fruits because they taste better and are sweet. But that also comes with a lot of sugar that you need to spread out. So combining them with vegetables gives them a nice balance. READY?

#1: Sweet potato and Orange

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato (I peeled mine)
1 large orange
1 medium kiwi
kale

Good morning!










#2: Cucumber and Green Apple

Ingredients:

1 cucumber
3 green apples
1 lemon
kale




Gives you tons of energy!







#3: Beets and Cantaloupe

Ingredients:

1 large beet (I included the stems)

1/2 cantaloupe
5 strawberries

*After making this drink a few times it is just a little too sweet, so I substituted the 5 strawberries with a half of a lemon. It tames it down a lot and gives it a great kick!*

Very good cleanser and gets rid of toxins!