New Kitchen, New Creations!

Thanks for all of your kind comments about our new house! We clearly have a lot of work to do, but like most of you said, it's important to stay positive and make it fun. We are really trying to enjoy every step of the way.

Did you think I had forgotten about my 2010 Cookbook?! I'll admit I've been slacking, but I'm still coming up with some good recipes, which are quick, cheap, and usually very healthy. I say "usually" because some, like the recipe below, should be served with a side of fruit and/or vegetable to increase the nutrient density.

Cheap, Quick, and Healthy Recipe #21
Not Your Typical Grilled Cheese

Ingredients
2 ounces (Processed) Swiss cheese
2 slices whole grain bread
1/2 cup spinach
2 slices turkey bacon (nitrate free)

Possible Modifications

• Use any cheese you wish! I used processed because that's all I had at the time!
  
• Add tomatoes or any other vegetable
• Use regular bacon (more fat, but some people prefer it)
  

Directions

1) Spray a large skillet with PAM or extra virgin olive oil (I prefer the latter). Heat the pan to medium.

2) Place the two slices of bread on the heated pan, and top with all of the ingredients (I put a majority of my ingredients on one side, but this isn't necessary).

3) After about 3-4 minutes, close the sandwich and heat one side at a time.

4) After about 2 minutes (depending on how crispy you like your bread) flip the sandwich.

5) Remove the sandwich from the heat once your cheese is nice and melted.

Sorry for the blurry picture!

Serve!

Because this recipe wasn't the healthiest (see nutrition facts below), it's best to serve it with some healthy components. Nick ate this with a side of sugar snap peas, broccoli, and a half of a sweet potato. The ketchup, well, I wouldn't recommend using as much as Nick! Even after I showed him that 2 T has 8 grams of sugar (that's ~1/4 of a man's total daily needs) and ~400 mg sodium (that's ~ 1/6 of your total sodium needs) he still insisted on using it. I'm buying the "low sugar" ketchup once we run out of this stuff! I hear Trader Joe's makes a nice one (thanks for the tip Evan!).

Nutrition Facts

With the addition of the broccoli, peas, and sweet potato, I'd be willing to bet this meal was at least a "B"!


Here is one of my latest random kitchen creations. I grabbed some cooked spinach, broccoli and carrots, then topped them with 3 ounces canned tuna (Albacore), 1 T nutritional yeast, 1/4 cup peach Chobani Greek yogurt (yes, I said peach!), and ~2 tsp Red Hot sauce. You know how the combination of salty and sweet is so perfect? So was this meal.

Here is my new favorite breakfast combination. It's oat bran, Truvia, ~2 T raspberry flavored soy yogurt, ~1/4 cup organic plain yogurt, ~1 T ground flaxseed, and ~ 1/4 cup frozen blueberries.

This keeps me full for a good 2 hours, which is fantastic for me!

Coming Up

I already showed you the inside of our fridge, so tomorrow you will get a peak inside our cabinets and freezer. Our new house has a lot more storage space, so I'm a happy foodie :)

Thanks for reading everyone, and have a great day!