Juice Elixers

Source: tumblr.com via Cooking on Pinterest

Potato Salad for Dessert?!?!

 

Sweet Potato Salad Parfait 

Yes, you read the title correctly; Potato Salad for dessert. Why? Me being who I am, I say why not. Its a great way to end off a meal with a dessert that's tasty in still within the good for you zone. I used roasted sweet potatoes for this dessert that way the natural sugars are brought to the for front. I layered with crushed pineapples, dried organic cranberries, walnut pieces, and chopped fresh mint. I pureed the smashed the sweet potatoes and instead of adding sugar I used the juice from the crushed pineapples. That's it! What's left is to layer, and I topped off with a honey Greek yogurt (I took plain yogurt and added the honey myself, that way you control how sweet you want it). This was a hit with both adults and children. Its packed with many healthy nutritional benefits and you can even dress it up in glasses to bring the visual to effect.  Great dessert made simple, healthy and with flavor that you can control.

Enjoy & Happy Eating!

Quick Homemade Dressing Video #1

French Dressing

Using a container that has a lid makes this quick. Once all ingredients are added then place lid back on and take the container in your hands and Shake  - Take and Shake! This would be a great way to have kids help. So next time you have a glass jar or jelly, or even a squeeze bottle - tap into your inner frugi (frugal) and wash and save. This dressing can last up to 2 weeks and you can increase the ingredients for larger amounts.

Enjoy & Happy Eating

Bringing Salad's Back

Ever buy a large amount of salad mix because you wanted to add healthy back into your eating habits only to get bored with it after the first salad. Let’s admit it; salads are normally not something that is craved. But I want to let you know salad can be creative, sexy (yes sexy lol) and eaten daily differently without being blah and boring. The catalyst to a good and even great salad is the dressing/flavor that is added to it.

 Now as for the salads ingredients, there are so many veggies that can take you somewhere different each time. Each salad can go beyond the romaine and iceberg lettuces. With mixed greens, baby greens, sprouts, and a plethora of other bases you can’t go wrong.  

Take for example: This salad you see is a warm salad that consist of Kale greens, sauteed red onions, Roma tomatoes and finished with fresh crushed garlic at the end. It was warmed with a little bit of EVOO, a pinch of kosher salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon (quarter sliced). 

 

I also did another take on salad with the infamous pasta salad.  What I did with this one was simple; I took the shrimp garden  salad mix and added a small amount of pasta and tossed lightly with a homemade dressing. This salad was really quick and easy to put together due to most of the ingredients being washed and prepped. Here's the recipe:

Shrimp Garden Pasta Salad

2 cups of cooked pasta

1 cup of broccoli slaw (Trader Joe's)

Cups of medium shrimps (devined, shelled and cooked)

1 cup of snow pea shoots (other sprouts can be used

½ red pepper diced

4 cups of Power Greens (baby spinach, baby Kale, baby chard)

¼ cup of Creamy Mustard Dressing **

Shavings of Cheese (Parm, Parrano, Aged Gouda) – optional

Slivered Almonds, Cashews or Walnuts - optional

Take all ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss. 

Simple, quick, healthy and flavorful is what this salad consumes. The best thing about this recipe is you can add/subtract ingredients that will make it your own. You can even change the dressing to a an vinegar/oil base or tomato base dressing.. Video's post for these two examples to follow this post.

**Now that we touch base on the salad, here's the recipe for the Creamy Mustard Dressing:

Creamy Mustard Dressing

1 cup of Organic Greek Yogurt

2-3 Tablespons German Mustard

¼ cup of Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Vegan Vegetable Bullion (Rapunzel)

2 Tbsp Raw Agave

1 tsp dried onions

1 Tbsp 21 Seasoning Salute

Combine all and mix and store in a reusable container.

If the dressing is too tangy for you, add a little more agave to balance it out . 

Enjoy & Happy Eating!