Crispy, Delish Green Beans

This is a quick green bean recipe:

Bag of green beans

blood orange olive oil

sea salt

balsamic vinegar

fat free feta cheese (optional)

 One bag of fresh green beans steamed al dente.

 Add in a pinch of sea salt, blood orange olive oil, balasmic vinegar and a little feta cheese.

Voila. Your perfect side dish, or add a little to your stir fry or to your salad! 

The easiest 2 ingredient crockpot chicken, and it's good for you!!

Recipe:

organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts

fresh salsa 

Cut any excess fat off chicken breast and cut in half.

place chicken breast halves in crock pot

dump salsa on top

add water till chicken is covered with liquid

cook on low for approx 4 hours

When chicken is done, remove from stock and shred all the chicken into a bowl.

Use chicken on your salad, added to a stir-fry, wraps for the kids...

After I remove all the chicken, I use the stock to make a delicious tomato based soup...recipe on another post coming soon.

Unsweetened (Pumpkin) Apple Butter

You only need five (5) Ingredients:
3 large (48 oz) containers unsweetened applesauce
1 large can (29 oz) pure pumpkin
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Empty the can of pumpkin  and 2 of the applesauce's into crock-pot (Do not throw away 2 of the applesauce containers. Wash, and refill with your finished product). Add  the above spices and stir. Add more applesauce till you are about 1 inch from the top. Stir again.

Heat on high (**with wooden spoon under lid) for approx 4 hours, then stir.
Turn on low overnight. Keep wooden spoon under lid during the whole cooking process.

Stir again in morning. You apple butter will be thicker and darker than when you started. Add more applesauce till it is back up to an inch from top. Cook on low all day...for a total of about 24 hours.

Let cool. Makes two large applesauce containers or around 100 ounces. I kept one large container for our house and divided the rest into smaller jars for gifts.

I use this in my stir-fry to mix a sweet with savory taste...its delish! I use it in my pumpkin protein bars instead of the applesauce it calls for. I add it to my "clean" granola as one of the wet ingredients. I take one cup of apple butter with 1 scoop vanilla protein powder and top it on a rice cake with sliced bananas...can you say AMAZING!!

**Placing the spoon under the lid will help the liquid evaporate overnight.

Veggie, chicken and quinoa stir fry

Fresh and some frozen veggies stir~fried with quinoa and fresh #mahimahi caught by my #hubby and #mytwoboys...yummy #delish #eatclean #cleaneats by @nikkiclearypta To save time, I usually start with a bag of frozen stir fry veggies (both Publix and Walmart carry a couple of different choices). This was the asparagus stir fry from Walmart.

1 tsp blood orange olive oil
1 bag asparagus stir fry veggies

When the liquid from the frozen veggies is almost all evaporated, I add in:
1 fresh red pepper
1 fresh zucchini diced
1 1/2 already cooked chicken breasts, diced or you can add a filet of fish
1/2 cup already prepared quinoa

Finish cooking for 5 to 10 minutes and serve.
Live Healthy. Live Happy.
Nikki

"clean" hummingbird cake

my version of Hummingbird cake....a delish #clean version...very dense and moist! #hummingbirdcake #cleaneats #foodporn #healthydessert #healthy by @nikkiclearypta

When I was pregnant (with all three of my kids, I would go up and visit my best friend Ashley in Tampa. She and I would walk over to a local deli and indulge in the most delicious Hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting. In the last two years, i have been on a journey to kick my sugar (aka the legal cocaine) addiction. Baking was a big part of my life and for a while,I just had to stay away from it all. Now, I have been experimenting and I came up with this recipe to help satisfy my "sweet tooth".

Pre Heat oven to 350
Combine:
1 cup oat bran
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup ground flax
3/4 cup organic coconut sugar
add:
1/2 to 3/4 cup of my homemade apple butter (you can use unsweetened apple sauce)
3/4 cup egg beaters
2 mashed bananas
8 oz can crushed pineapple (do not drain)
mix in:
1/2 cup low sugar craisins
1/2 cup flax seeds
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup unsweetened coconut

Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake in pre heated oven for 1 hour!

Live Health. Live Happy.
Nikki

"clean" granola

Ingredients:
5 cups old fashioned oats
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
2/3 cup molasses (once i used 1/2c molasses and filled to 2/3 with honey)
1/2 cup agave
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups homemade apple butter (unsweetened) and 1/2 cup almond butter (unsalted)

2/3 cup millet
2/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
2/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup dried cherries (unsweetened)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped dated

Combine molasses, honey, agave, apple butter, almond butter and vanilla. Add in cinn, ginger, salt, nutmeg and cloves, stir till smooth. Mix in oats. Add the four cups of dried fruits, millet, nuts and seeds. Lightly spray a 9x13 pan with olive oil. Press the mixture into baking pan until tightly packed. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes or until edges turn a darker brown. Remove from oven and brush a thin layer or molasses over the top to give the granola a nice shine. Eat warm (It will be crumbly, but DELISH) or serve at room temp. Note: will store in freezer in air tight container for at least a month, thaw as needed.

I found the original recipe from www.goodlifeeats.com
***edited Jan 2012: I have made these 2 more times since October and my family and clean eating friends can't get enough. If you are allowing your self a real treat you can crumble into lowfat frozen vanilla yogurt!***