Cleaning up an old fav!

Pete's first job after he left the Army was with Schwans. In case you didn't know, it is a food company that delivers food to your home. We both kind of thought it would be helpful for him as a salesperson to try some of the products, and it helped that we got a little discount. Our hands-down, favorite thing was the Garlic Chicken Pizza Flatbread. Two crunchy, thin flatbreads with a creamy garlicy white sauce with chicken and cheese. ***drool*** Oh so tasty but definitely nothing even resembling clean!! I saw a recipe via Facebook last night for a blog I "like" that featured a homemade pizza recipe. I used the crust recipe here but I did not put it in a skillet like the author did. I was pleasantly surprised that I got the dough to rise--all my past experiences with yeast have been complete failures--and this was a good, soft, whole-wheat dough. Next time I will try to find one that cooks more flatbread-style, but this was good. I divided my dough into 4 sections to make 4 little pizzas. I baked them on two cookie sheets on 400* for about 10 minutes. While they were baking, I decided to experiment with my toppings. I chopped and sauted 3 cloves of garlic in about 2 tbsp olive oil for one minute, then added it to 1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese, 2 tbsp fat free plain greek yogurt, 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, a few dashes of pepper, and a tsp of italian herbs. I had some baked chicken breast in the fridge and I cut up one of them and added it to my cheese mixture. This made enough for two of the pizzas. I flipped the crusts after 10 minutes I topped each one with some fresh baby spinach.


Looks delicious, huh? I was hoping it would taste as good as it smelled. I baked it another 10 minutes and practically burned my mouth taking the first bite because I didn't want to wait for them to cool down! It was everything I was hoping it would be! A great alternative to one of my favorite pizzas, made much cheaper and much healthier by moi.







I had some leftover plain 'ole tomato sauce in my fridge also, so I wanted to use this as well. I sauteed 2 more cloves of garlic in olive oil (1 tbsp this time) and then added it to my sauce, plus a bit more freshly-grinded italian herb seasoning. Sooo good. I put this on the other two pizzas with a little cheese for my kids and they loved it!


I was so excited to find something we all loved that was not only healthy, but very inexpensive to make and I had all of the ingredients on-hand! I'm already thinking of making the garlic chicken pizza again on Friday night!

Don't quit your dayjob!

Not to toot my own horn, but I know my way around the kitchen. I can make some pretty delicious dishes, both clean and VERY un-clean. I've enjoyed cooking ever since I've gotten out on my own, and I get all geeky goofy excited when I discover a new kitchen gadget that can somehow make my culinary life easier!

Over the past couple of months, I have been going on a clean cooking and baking spree! I have been loving trying out new recipes and making up my own! Off the top of my head, some of the things I have made- blueberry-corn muffins, banana bread, fruit-filled muffins, pancakes, peanut-tahini pasta, fajitas, baby bella/potato omlettes, tomato-basil soup, cornbread, danish meatballs, and apple crisp. I know there are many more but you get the picture!

There's only one problem. I have been the only one who has liked everything!! My 20 month old daughter is my harshest critic! If she likes something, I'll hear "mmm mmm mmm" sounds coming from her highchair and she'll have this big grin plastered on her face while she's eating. If she doesn't like something? Oh, she'll get MAD! She'll just toss the food off her tray and scream, "YUCKY! EWWW!" I have been getting a lot of the ladder lately! It's been a bit of an ego kill!

Take this. This is my clean-eating danish meatballs over brown rice. We aren't normally rice eaters here, mostly because my only exposure to rice thus far has been broccoli au gratin Rice a Roni, fried rice from Panda Express, and Mexican rice served along side a heaping pile of greasy refried beans at one of the zillion Mexican restaurants we tried while living in Texas. The rice had a surprisingly good flavor, the turkey meatballs were delish, and the white dill sauce was unlike anything I've ever tried before! It was so good! And healthy! But of course, my little princess had her plate thrown on the floor before I had even served the other kids. Tell me how you really feel, Riley! Sheesh! I'm sure the dog enjoyed it!

Another obsession of mine lately has been sweet potato fries.

I feel like they are my gift from God!! A veggie-haters dream! I am not much of a fan of baked sweet potatoes or that nasty Thanksgiving dish with the big chunks of canned potatoes covered in butter, sugar, and marshmellows. It hasn't ever tasted good to me, aside from stealing a burnt marshmellow or two. These are so simple to make and I could eat them three times a day, they are THAT good! I slice them up, toss them VERY lightly in olive or canola oil, and sprinkle them with a bunch of cinnamon. Then I bake 'em for about 30 minutes at 450*, turning at least once. They get a little burnt and crispy on the edges and it is seriously my new favorite food! Of course, my husband and I are the only ones in the house who will eat them. Neither of the kids will touch them! Give them those salty, greasy fast-food fries, and they'll gobble those right up. Ugh.

With fall approaching, I feel the need to bake. One of my all-time favorites has been my mom's apple crisp. The original recipe calls for about a cup of sugar, plus a bunch of butter and white flour. I LOVE the sugar/butter/flour combo but my waistline does not!! So I decided to try making my own version. I put a little olive oil in a pan and then added some whole wheat pastry flour until it got crumbly. Then I just started adding stuff. I added some agave--about a teaspoon or two, plus wheat germ, flax, and chopped walnuts. I cut up 6 granny smith apples and put them in my baking dish and sprinkled them with apple pie spice and drizzled a little honey over that. Then I put on my crumbly topping and baked it at 400* for an hour.

I served it with the sweet potato fries and some grilled chicken.

Unfortunately, the apple crisp just didn't measure up. It was good, but just not quite the same thing. It was only "take one" of many so I am confident that one of these days I'll either get it right or I will just get used to the clean version tasting a bit different. And it tasted much better the second day when it was a little cooler. I've always liked my apple dishes at room temp or cold, never hot. I'm weird ;)

I'm still super frustrated that my kids do not enjoy much of the clean dishes I've made for them. They prefer boxed macaroni and cheese and commercial chicken nuggets and hot dogs. While I don't know if they will ever completely stop getting these things, I still have hope that they will start to get a taste for the wholesome foods I make for them! They really love the banana bread and pancakes I make and surprisingly one of their favorite things are ww tortillas with my homemade clean-seasoned refried beans, cheese, and chicken. They love to snack on string cheese and fresh fruit like apples, pineapples, strawberries, and grapes. I think they'd rather have fruit than any other kind of snack, which is always a "proud-mommy" moment for me! And I think I've gotten Peter hooked on a big spoon of peanut butter for a mid-afternoon snack. So even if they haven't liked 90% of the things I've made for them lately, they ARE making some healthy decisions every single day. And I am definitely not finished trying out new recipes and improvising as I go, so I have hope that one day I will get Riley's "nommmm mmmm" seal of approval!