Homemade Corn Tortillas

I FINALLY broke down and made homemade corn tortillas last night, to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! They were SO easy and very yummy! Just like the ones we eat in Guatemala! :)

Ingredients:
2 cups masa harina (make sure it only has corn and lime - the lime is important!)
1 1/4 cup water

Directions:
1. Mix together masa harina and water until dough starts to form. I ended up having to add a lot more water than this...not sure why...but I just kept adding water until the dough came together.
2. Pull dough together into disk/ball shape. Let dough sit for 15 minutes.
3. For each tortilla, pull off handful of dough, roll between two pieces of wax paper, and heat on skillet over high heat for about 30 seconds to 1 minute for each side, until it starts to lightly brown.

Taco Salad

This was my own little creation...and we love it so much we've had it twice in the last week! :)
Super quick and easy and really tasty!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 packet taco seasoning
15 oz can diced tomatoes (no salt)
15 oz can black beans, rinsed
bagged salad (or make your own!)
1 avocado, diced
jalapeno flavored tortilla chips
cheddar cheese, shredded
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
Ken's ranch dressing

Directions:
1. In large skillet, brown ground beef, garlic, and onion. Pour off fat. Add taco seasoning, tomatoes (with juices), and black beans. Heat through.
2. To serve, put salad on each plate. Top with beef mixture, avocado, crushed tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, jalapeno pepper, and ranch dressing.

Chili Nachos

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 large can chili beans
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 jar cheeze whiz
1 bag tortilla chips
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)
sour cream (optional)
salsa (optional)

Directions:
1. In large skillet, brown ground beef and onion over medium high heat. Drain fat. Add chili beans, tomatoes, and garlic. Cook on low heat for about 20 minute until warmed through and flavors come together.
2. Heat cheese whiz in microwave.
3. Serve tortilla chips with chili mixture poured over top, and top with cheese. Sprinkle jalapeno peppers on top, if desired. Serve with sour cream and/or salsa if desired.

Horchata - Guatemalan

This was a drink we got to have in Guatemala, and it was SO good that I had to find a recipe for it! It turned out great! Super easy, and the kids loved it! They were all unsure of it when I first offered it to them, but they all asked for more! :) I'm not sure if it tastes EXACTLY the same as what we had, but it's very good! I can't remember how the other one tasted...other than amazingly good!
I got this one from Better Homes and Gardens Special Issue called Ultimate Mexican...funny that I had this recipe for a year or so! LOL!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup long grain white rice
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 cup blanched almonds or raw cashews (I left this out b/c of nut allergies)
3 inches stick cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lime peel
4 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
ground cinnamon, optional

Directions:
1. Place uncooked rice in a blender; cover and blend until powdery (some of the rice will look finely chopped). In a medium bowl combine blended rice, the 1 1/4 cups warm water, almonds, stick cinnamon, and lime peel. Cover and let stand at room temperature over night.
2. Transfer mixture to a blender. Add 2 cups of the 4 cups of water. Cover and blend until mixture is smooth.
3. Line a fine-mesh strainer with 2 layers of 100 percent cotton cheesecloth. Pour rice mixture through cheesecloth. When liquid has passed through, gather up the cheesecloth and squeeze remaining liquid into the bowl. Discard solids.
4. Transfer strained liquid to a pitcher. Stir in remaining 2 cups water, sugar, and vanilla. Serve immediately over ice. If desired, garnish with extra ground cinnamon (I added whipped cream). To serve warm, omit serving over ice and transfer to medium saucepan; cook over medium heat until heated through.

Can make and store in fridge up to 3 days before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Super Healthy Spinach!

This was sooooo good!
I decided to eat some spinach with my lunch today, and wanted to make it jam-packed with nutrients and things that I'm trying to add to my diet with this whole Fat Flush Diet thing...
It was the best spinach I've ever eaten! :) So cool when ingredients come together like that!

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (with Omega 3 added)
2-3 Tablespoons LOW SODIUM chicken broth
3 fresh garlic cloves, sliced
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 bag fresh spinach

Directions:
1. In large skillet, heat oil and chicken broth over high heat. Add garlic and cook until boiling. Add apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. Let cook over medium heat for a few minutes to let the flavors come together. Add spinach and continue cooking until all the spinach is wilted.

NO SALT or PEPPER needed! :)

Spicy Chicken Veggie Soup

This is my own creation...trying to stick with the Fat Flush Diet for two weeks, as best as I can...and now after this soup I think I might be able to do it! LOL! :)

You are supposed to eat apple cider vinegar, flaxseed oil and ground flaxseeds...the seeds are barely tolerable in a drink...and I mean BARELY! And the oil is just gross! BUT, to my bowl, I added the 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar that I am supposed to have daily, and it made it really tangy and awesome! I added about 1 Tbsp of flax seed oil and about 1 teaspoon of flaxseeds, and you couldn't even tell! :)

It's really good!

Ingredients:
3 pieces chicken with bone - I did two breasts and one thigh
sprinkle of garlic salt
12 cups or so of water
2-3 cups lowest sodium/sugar tomato juice you can find
1 large can petite diced tomatoes
1 large can NO sodium diced tomatoes
5 cloves garlic
1 small onion, diced
1 large jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil with omega 3 added
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 large squash, diced
2 large bell peppers, any color
4 small carrots
1 bag baby spinach
salt, to taste

Directions:
1. In large soup pot, bring water and chicken to a rapid boil. Add sprinkle of garlic salt. Turn heat down to medium-low and cook for about 30 minutes.
2. In skillet, heat olive oil. Add garlic, onions, and jalapeno. Cook until slightly browned. Add cayenne.
3. Add garlic mixture to soup pot. Add carrots. Cook for about 15 more minutes.
4. Remove chicken (if cooked completely). Pull chicken meat apart, removing any and all bones and skin. Add meat back to pot.
5. Add squash and peppers to pot and cook for about 10 more minutes. Add spinach and cook until it welts.
6. Add a tiny bit of salt to taste in each serving bowl.

Kickin' Eggs

I read through a book this morning about the 50 best things to eat when trying to lose weight...it's part of the Fat Flush Dieting program.

Anyway, it had a lot of really useful information that I'm going to try to incorporate into our meals. I always want to eat/cook healthier but never know exactly what to use. (Although, I'm pretty sure that our fondue pot full of hot melted cheese won't work for this diet! LOL!)

In the book, it talked about how cayenne pepper and a few other seasonings are really good to add to foods because it raises your core body temp and your metabolism, causing you to burn fat quicker than without it! COOL, huh?! Just sprinkle some cayenne on top of your food and now you're burning fat like 20% faster!

And, it mentioned something about putting cayenne or cumin on eggs...so I thought I'd give it a try...so I used that and my own veggie ideas, and this is what I came up with...and Chris and I both LOVED it! Even the kids went from screaming at me when I told them I wanted them to just taste it (love the drama of ages 7, 4, and 3!), to telling me that it was actually pretty good!

We LOVE hot stuff, so it was a no-brainer for me...but if you don't love heat, just sprinkle a tiny bit. It adds a wonderful smoky flavor, brings out the flavors of the veggies and meat, and makes the need for salt nearly vanish completely! It was so awesome!

This is enough for lunch for one...just multiply ingredients for more people.

Kickin' Eggs

Ingredients:
drizzle of olive oil
1/8 cup onion, diced
handful frozen spinach
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1 very small tomato, diced
2-3 slices very thinly sliced deli ham (mostly fat free), diced
2 eggs
tiny sprinkle of salt
pepper to taste
sprinkle of cayenne, to taste

Directions:
1. In skillet, heat olive oil, onion, and spinach over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until spinach has thawed completely. Add bell pepper, tomato, and cook for a minute or two. Add ham, and stir until well blended.
2. In small bowl, whisk eggs. Add to veggies. Stir constantly until fully cooked.
3. Remove from skillet onto serving plate. Sprinkle with a very small amount of salt (with the ham and cayenne, it doesn't need hardly any!), pepper, and then as much cayenne as you can tolerate.