A Short Background Intro

My life journey has led me to learn a lot of different things from different locations and different people.  In my 31 years of life thus far, I have definitely had my eyes opened to life on many occasions.  Growing up, I spent a lot of time moving around, and never stayed at the same school for more than a year or two.  I learned to get along with a plethora of personalities and how not to judge others for being themselves.  I also found my love of books.  Being able to immerse myself into a book was a freedom that could go with me regardless of the location.  I am happy that even now, I can still possess that ability.

I enlisted into the Air National Guard 3 days after my 18^th birthday.  After 11 and a half years of service (8 of those active duty), I found myself immersed in military intelligence and was even paid to learn Chinese.  Four and a half years ago I was blessed with my own miracle in the form of my son.  As a single mother, I feel like I learn new things each and every day, and so much life is lived between the tiny spaces as I watch another being grow before my very eyes. 

Maintaining my gypsy lifestyle of youth while serving in the military I was unable to finish my college degree.  I finally found a way to be a full-time student and commit to it a year and a half ago when I started attending the University of Advancing Technology.  Currently I am studying for a B.S. in Advancing Computer Science.  Prior to attending college, I put the wheels into motion for getting a cookbook published and am working on it in between the rare moments of "free" time.  Somewhere amidst my crazy life I also decided that becoming a health coach was a good thing, becuase I must not have had too much to do already.  I have loved it though!  I feel healthier, more energentic and more confident than ever now that I am a Beachbody Coach!  ( My Coaching Site)

Life has definitely had many ups and downs for me, but if you are new to my blog, I just want you to know that taking the time out of your crazy and busy life means the world to me.  I would love to hear from you.  

Orange Brandy Pork

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love pork.  So what is better than to mix some delicious brandy into your pork?  Enjoy this succulent and easy recipe!

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Butter (Unsalted)
3 Pork Loins
Seasoning (Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt, Basil, Thyme)
1 Carrot (Outside peeled off and then peel the rest of the carrot down to the core)
2/3 Cup Orange Juice
1/3 Cup Grand Marnier

Directions:
Add the butter into a heavy bottom skillet. Season the pork generously and add to the butter.  Cook until barely pink in the center (about 4 minutes per side).   Transfer the pork to a plate and cover. 
Add the carrot to the skillet and saute over medium heat until softened (about 4 minutes).  Add the orange juice and liquor and scrape up and remaining bits on the bottom of the pan and cook for 1 minute.
Return the pork and any remaining juices to the skillet until heated all the way through.  Serve the pork with carrot on top and sauce spooned over.  Enjoy.

Add the seasoned pork to the skillet

Saute' the carrot slices

Add the remaining ingredients

Bring the pork back to the sauce

Serve & Enjoy!

No-Bake Cake Balls

Liam and I frequent Starbucks mostly due to his cake pop love.  I keep wanting to make him soemthing similar at home, so my mom found this recipe and sent it to me to play with.  They turned out VERY delicious.  Tasted a lot like cookie dough in chocolate.  In the future I would use a bit less flour since they were a tad bit crumbly and cut the white chocolate with cream or frosting.  It was a humongous sticky mess to coat the balls in JUST white chocolate.  Very yummy though.

Ingredients: (makes about 14-20 balls depending on how you roll them)
1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick, softened)
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Vanilla Cake Mix
1 1/2 Cup Flout (Start with just 1 Cup and add in as you need)
pinch of salt
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 Cup Milk
6-8 oz white chocolate (again you may want to add in some milk or cream or even some frosting (homemade or store bought) to keep it from being quite so sticky)
Sprinkles

Directions:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and coat a wire rack with non-stick spray.

Mix all ingredients except the chocolate and sprinkles and roll into balls that are about 1 inch in diameter.  Set the balls on the cookie sheer and chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Melt chocolate and stir until smooth.  Dip each ball into the chocolate, coating completely and set on rack.  Top with sprinkles and chill all balls in the fridge until set. 

Serve and enjoy!  They taste amazing with milk.

Soften the butter

Add in the sugar

Add in the flour

Add all ingredients except for the chocolate and sprinkles

Mix until starting to crumble

Roll into balls and set on cookie sheet to be chilled

Dip the balls into the chocolate

Top with sprinkles and set on drying rack to be chilled

Watermelon-Mango Fruit Protein Smoothie

This one was just amazingly delicious.  I filled it so full, I even got 3 servings out of it.


Ingredients:
1 Cup Frozen strawberries & Blueberries
1 1/2 Scoops Vanilla Protein Powder/Shakeology
1/2 Watermelon (Personal Sized, Chopped)
1 Mango (Peeled and Sliced)
1 Apple (Cored & Sliced)
1 Lime (Peeled & sectioned)
20 Blueberries
20 Red Grapes
1 Cup Orange Juice (Not From Concentrate)



Directions:
Add the frozen ingredients into the blender first and then add the protein and the remaining ingredients, top with the orange juice (This helps ensure a better overall blend).  Blend on medium/high speed until well blended and serve.  This gives you 2 smoothies to enjoy so that you can take care of 2 days at once, refrigerate the remaining smoothie.  Enjoy!

Add in all of the ingredients

Blend Well

Serve & Enjoy!

If you interested in more smoothie recipes here are my previously posted recipes

Red Pepper-Peach Protein Smoothie

Apple-Banana-Tomato Protein Smoothie

Cantaloupe-Carrot-Berry Protein Smoothie

Cucumber-Watermelon-Mint Protein Smoothie

Heirloom Carrot-Watermelon Protein Smoothie

Watermelon-Triple-Berry Protein Smoothie with Kale

Pear-Apple-Berry Fruit Protein Smoothie

Steak Au Poivre with Disaronno

It had been far too long since I had made a delicious rendition of Steak Au Poivre, so it was time to pull this bad boy out of storage.  I was definitely not left disappointed. 

Ingredients:
Seasoning (I used Alpine Touch, Mediterranean Basil,  Spicy Montreal Steak, and Garlic Powder)
3 Steaks (Cut of steak depends on your preference)
Unsalted Butter 3 Tbsp
2 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
6 Package Mushrooms Sliced
2/3 Cup (3 fl oz) Amaretto (I used Disaronno)
2/3 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Tsp Tarragon

Directions:
In a Large Frying pan over med-high heat melt 2 Tbsp butter.  While the butter is melting season the steak on both side with the seasoning of your choice.  Add the steaks to the pan to cook.  Turning once for a total of 6-8 minutes for medium rare and longer if you like your steak done more.  Transfer the steaks to a plate and store in the microwave to keep warm. 
Add the remaining 1 Tbsp butter to the pan and melt over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and garlic, saute' until softened (about a minute).  Stir in the amaretto, cream and tarragon.  Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer until slightly thickened.  Simmer for about 1-5 minutes.  Turn the heat off and return the steaks to the pan to soak into the sauce.  Serve by spooning sauce over the steak onto the plate.  Enjoy!

Cook the steaks and you can also make garlic mashed potatoes at the same time

Saute' the garlic and mushrooms

Serve & Enjoy!

Beef Minestrone Soup-One Pot Recipe

For my birthday my mother got me a bunch of mini cookbooks.  One of them was full of one-pot recipes, so of course I had to find one and completely jack with the ingredients.  Here is the result of that fun, it turned out quite delicious. :)

Ingredients:
1 lb Hamburger
Seasoning (Basil, Oregano, Alpine Touch, Crushed Red Pepper)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
1 Carrot (Peeled & Sliced)
1 Zucchini (Peeled & Sliced)
2 Celery Ribs (Chopped)
10-12 Grape Tomatoes (Diced) *substitute a can of diced tomatoes if needed
3 Large Tomatoes (Crushed) *substitute can of crushed tomatoes if needed
5 Mushrooms (Chopped)
1/2 Can of Black Olives (Sliced)
2 1/2 Cup Beef Broth
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
2 Cups Bowtie Pasta
Shredded Cheese to taste

Directions:
Add the hamburger to a pot and cook on medium.  Once browned add the oil, garlic, carrot, zucchini and celery.  Cook for about 4 minutes.  Add in remaining ingredients except for the cheese and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes until pasta is al dente.  Stir occasionally and serve when done.  Stir in the cheese and top with basil and enjoy!

Brown the hamburger in the bottom of the pot

Add the oil, garlic, carrots, zucchini and celery

Add in the remaining ingredients and mix together

Mix in the shredded cheese and enjoy!

Goulash From The Garden

I have been craving some delish hearty goulash for a very long time, and had a ton of veggies to use up before they went bad, so I decided to mix it all together into some delicious goulash.  I tried perusing the internet for goulash recipes to get an idea of where I wanted to go, but everything that I found was very boring and looked the same.  In the end I deiced to just close the computer and the cookbooks and just create my own from scratch, so here it is:

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
Seasoning (Garlic Powder, Spicy Montreal Steak, Alpine Touch)
10 oz Ditalini dry pasta (or elbow)
24oz basil, tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 carrot (peeled and chopped)
1 ear of corn (cook, and cut the corn off the cob)
6 grape tomatoes (sliced)
4 mushrooms (chopped)
1 zucchini (peeled and chopped)
1/2 eggplant (peeled and chopped)
1 red pepper (seeded and chopped)

Directions:
Add the hamburger to a heavy bottom skillet and cook on med-high, add the seasoning.
Boil the pasta until al dente.
Once hamburger is browned add the sauce and warm. 
Now add all remaining ingredients and cook on low until all ingredients are thoroughly cooked and warmed. 
Serve with the hamburger sauce over a plate of pasta and enjoy!

Brown the seasoned hamburger

Add the sauce to the hamburger while the pasta is cooking

Add all remaining ingredients

Serve the hamburger sauce over the pasta and enjoy!

Red Pepper Peach Protein Smoothie

Another weird one, I know, but trust me, it's delicious.  And of course very healthy.  I really enjoyed this one. 


Ingredients:
1 Cup Frozen strawberries & Blueberries
1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
2 medium sized Carrots (Peeled & Chopped)
1/2 Red Pepper (Seeded & Chopped)
1/2 Cucumber (Peeled & Sliced)
1 Green Apple (Cored & Sliced)
2 Peach (Pitted & Sliced)
Juice of 1 Lime
1 Cup Apple Juice (Not From Concentrate)

Directions:
Add the frozen ingredients into the blender first and then add the protein and the remaining ingredients, top with the apple juice (This helps ensure a better overall blend).  Blend on medium/high speed until well blended and serve.  This gives you 2 smoothies to enjoy so that you can take care of 2 days at once, refrigerate the remaining smoothie.  Enjoy!

Add all of the ingredients

Blend

Serve & Enjoy!

If you interested in more smoothie recipes here are my previously posted recipes

Apple-Banana-Tomato Protein Smoothie

Cantaloupe-Carrot-Berry Protein Smoothie

Cucumber-Watermelon-Mint Protein Smoothie

Heirloom Carrot-Watermelon Protein Smoothie

Watermelon-Triple-Berry Protein Smoothie with Kale

Pear-Apple-Berry Fruit Protein Smoothie

Orange Mint Chicken Drumsticks

I was wanting to do something with mint, and happened to have drumsticks needing to be cooked.  Viola; Orange Mint Chicken sounded delicious, and here you go:

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Orange Juice
1 tsp Orange Emulsion
1 Tbsp Dried Mint (Juiced)
Seasoning (Alpine Touch & Tarragon)
5-6 Chicken Drumsticks

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the Oil, Orange Juice, Emulsion. and seasoning together in a bowl.  Roll the drumsticks one at a time into the mixture and place into a deep pan (I covered with tinfoil to make cleaning easy).  Once complete, pour the remaining mixture over top of the drumsticks in the pan and the sprinkle with additional seasoning.  Cook for 40-50 minutes or until done all the way through.  Serve & Enjoy!

Mix the Oil, OJ, Emulsion and Spices together in a bowl

Roll the Drumsticks in the mixture and place on a foil covered cookie sheet

Take out of the over after about 50 minutes

Serve & Enjoy!

Cheese-Stuffed Italian Meatloaf

It had been awhile since I had made some delicious Italian Meatloaf, and cheese makes almost anything better, so here is the delicious recipe. 

Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Breadcrumbs (Tightly Packed)
Seasoning (Alpine Touch, Garlic Salt, Mediterranean Oregano, Mediterranean Basil, a couple of dashes of red pepper flakes, a pinch of roasted garlic)
1 lb Ground Beef
1/2 lb Ground Italian Sausage
1 Cup Three Cheese Cheddar (grated)
1/2 Cup Mexican Shredded Mix (grated)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the eggs, bread crumbs and seasoning.  Mix thoroughly.  Crumple the meat over the mixture and mix all together.   Press half of the meat mixture into a loaf pan.  Sprinkle 3/4 of the cheese over the top of the meat.  Pat the remaining meat mixture on top of the cheese.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.  Meat thermometer should read about 160 degrees.  Turn off the oven.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and let sit in the warm oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese.  Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes.  Serve & Enjoy!

Combine the breadcrumbs, eggs and spices

Mix in the sausage & hamburger

Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the pan

Top with 3/4 of the cheese

Finish off with the remaining meat mixture

Cook for 50-55 minutes

Turn off oven and top with remaining cheese

Remove after 5 minutes and enjoy!

Sloppy Joes

I hadn't made any sloppy joes in about 4 months, so I figured it was about time to do some tweaking to the delicious recipe.  Here it is!

 Ingredients:

1 lb ground hamburger
Alpine Touch

2 Tbsp Butter

3 Carrots (Peeled & Minced)

3 Garlic cloves (minced)

2 Celery Stalks (Minced)

1 Tbsp Vinegar

1/2 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper

1/2 Tbsp Thyme

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar Bourbon Grill Mate (or another great steak seasoning) 

1/2 Tbsp Parsley

3 Tbsp Brown Sugar

3 Tbsp Tomato Paste

1/2 Cup Ketchup

1/2 Cup BBQ sauce (Hickory Mesquite Smoke for a delicious smokey flavor)

Directions:

Brown the hamburger.  Drain and set aside.

In a separate pan add the Butter, minced carrots and garlic and saute' for 2-3 minutes.  Add the minced celery and cook for another minute.  Add the Vinegar and seasoning and cook for another minute or two to thoroughly season the veggies.  Add all remaining ingredients and thoroughly mix.  Add the hamburger to the mixture and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Sauce will be ready to serve.  Serve on your favorite bun, roll or bread for the best eating experience. 

Season and brown the hamburger

Add the butter, minced garlic and minced carrots to a heavy bottom skillet

Add in the minced celery and cook on medium heat

Add the spices

Add the remaining ingredients

Mix thoroughly

Add in the hamburger and stir to warm

Serve & Enjoy