Junk Free July WEEK: IV

Week 4, was an interesting week.  We had some issues w/Rusty in the middle of the night, one night.  Of course it was the night before Kal’s early morning surgery (Jeff didn’t ask off work so I had to deal w/everything) My mother is a saint though, so I was able to leave Talynn and Rusty w/her for the first half of the day.  I have been exhausted ever since.  So I didn’t get alot of exercise in the second half of the week but I still managed to lose 3 lbs! Woohoo!  I took pictures of myself before I started my Junk Free July, and then halfway through, and I will take more pictures of how I look after.  I will be posting these next week, so stay tuned!  I’m only posting a couple recipes this week. Due to being constantly exhausted and pulled in a million directions I wasn’t super creative this week. I did a lot of repeats from previous weeks, boring stuff, and quick apples, and bananas here and there. Here are a few things I did enjoy….

• Wheat Waffles & Sweet Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Eggs, 2 C. milk, 1/3 C. Canola Oil, 2 C. Wheat Flour, 1 TB. Baking Powder, 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1 TB. Sugar

Directions:

In a blender beat egg, milk, and oil until frothy. Pour into bowl, and immediately stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon onto hot waffle iron.

I always sprinkle the surface of the batter w/cinnamon.  It makes everything taste better!

   

Now the SWEET SAUCE  I made was to replace the peanut butter and syrup I usually like to don on my waffles.  For this I just threw….

1 medium banana, 12 strawberries, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. sugar in our baby bullet.

The Sweet Sauce was by no mean “AMAZING”, but it wasn’t awful and it was a healthier choice.

Jeff and Kal ate their waffles the good ‘ole Iggy way.

Doesn’t that look delicious? and FATTENING?!

Alrighty this next recipe is one that we got from a friend a while ago. Jeff had eaten dinner at their house and they served this. He loved it! So I decided since it can be made using all unprocessed ingredients (I tweaked it a little bit), why not?!

• VEGETARIAN INDIAN CURRY

Ingredients:

1 TB.Olive Oil, 1 Onion chopped, 1 C. (1/4 inch thick) sliced Carrots, 2 TB. Curry Powder, 2 tsp. Brown Sugar, 1 TB. grated peeled fresh Ginger, 4 Garlic cloves-minced, 3 C. cooked/drained/rinsed Chickpeas, 1 1/2 C. cubed peeled baking Potato, 1 head of Cauliflower (cut into bite sized pieces), 1/2 ts. Salt, 1/4 ts. Black Pepper, 1/2 ts. Ground Red Pepper,1 (14.5 oz) can diced Tomatoes, 1 (14 oz) can Vegetable Broth, 1 can Coconut Milk, and 2 C Water (you may need more or less. you just want the liquid to be about halfway between the bottom of the crockpot and the top of the vegetables)

FYI:

*I don’t peel my potatoes (the peel is where all the nutrients are!) I also didn’t use Ginger, because it so overpowering and I can’t stand the taste.  I just diced up 3 medium sized tomatoes instead of canned,I used 1/2 a head of cauliflower, I used homemade Chicken Broth (2 cups) instead of Vegetable Broth, and I did one cup of Coconut Milk ( but i may leave that out next time and just add a little more water…..

Now I have been saving up vegetable scraps for a while now (I just add to this bag that I keep in my freezer), but didn’t have quite enough to make my own broth.

So I made Chicken Broth instead. Collect all the bones, fat, and skin from your cooked chicken and set them aside.

Now place these scraps into your crockpot along with onion, celery, or any other seasoning and veggies you like.  Fill with 4-6 C. Water.  I put this on Hi for a couple hours before I went to bed, then turned it to Low and let it cook overnight.

Strain…

CURRY PREP:

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and carrot; cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender.

Add curry powder, sugar, ginger, garlic and chile; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Place onion mixture in a 5 qt. electric slow cooker. Stire in chickpease and next 8 ingredients.

       

(everything but the coconut milk) Cover and cook on HI for 6 hours or until vegetable are tender. Add coconut milk.

  

Serve with Rice.

I think this could be really good over  Quinoa as well!

Week 5 is a short one with only 4 days left in the month of July.  I won’t be slacking off though.  Here’s to a strong finish! I’m loving the results I’m getting, how I look and how I feel.  I will definitely continue to love and learn how to make myself and my family healthier!