Fresh Apple Cake

Fresh Apple Cake

4 cups apples, diced (peeled or unpeeled)

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped nuts, optional (walnuts are good)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups flour

Mix apples and sugar. Let stand. Mix remaining dry ingredients, add wet ingredients then apple mixture. Pour into greased, floured pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Whole Foods

So my parents have been using this blender for years. They are such good examples of eating healthy and changing their food habits to suit the different stages of their lives. Plus, they do a really good job of looking out for each other and taking care of each other.

Naturally they want my babies to be healthy...seeing as my oldest refuses to eat veggies - this blender was the perfect solution.

Now we have a smoothie everyday, loaded with:
1 cup grapes (peels and seeds)
1 cup strawberries (with core and leaves)
1 banana (peeled - if the monkey's don't eat the peel - neither do we)
1 apple (with peel and seeds)
1/8 of a cantaloupe (with the seeds not the peel)
1/2 a cucumber (with peel)
1/8 of a cabbage
1/2 cup of carrots
1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt (organic)
1/4 cup of juice (100% variety)
1/4 cup flax
ice

I can't tell you how happy it makes me that they are eating veggies and don't even know about it. I love how easy it is for me to blend it and then clean this machine. It's literally a 5 min max to clean. We are now buying fruits and veggies in bulk for the four of us. It's fantastic. This can work as a total meal replacement. I love that summer is on it's way... just think of all the other fruits I'll be mixing in...

ps. I've been meaning to mention this - my Mom taught me to wash grapes, strawberries... in salt water. It's amazing how much extra dirt comes off the fruit. I tend to rinse 2-3 times after too... salt is an amazing tool.

Tropical Pancakes

This is something I threw together this morning with some left over ingredients, it worked pretty well.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
2 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4-1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup milk
1 egg(optional)
1/4-1/2 cup crushed pineapple (I cuisinarted cubed pineapple)
about 1/4 cup shredded coconut(It's up to you, I eye ball how much I want)

Directions: Mix the dry ingredients together then slowly blend in the milk and the egg. Add the pineapple and shredded coconut. Cook up those bad boys on a skillet over medium low heat. Flip when the bubbles start to pop and stay.

Top with banana, kiwi, strawberries, or any fruit your heart desires. I also added plain yogurt and syrup on top in addition to my bananas, it was a pretty wicked breakfast, and great for the summer season.

2 EASY Summer Recipes to help beat the heat!

Hey everyone! Been keeping meals simple and cool for the summer. Here are two easy faves we've been enjoying. Both very adaptable to what you have on hand.

Romaine Caeser Wraps
(Courtesy of the the Tanimura & Antle bag at Costco!) ;-)

• 2 heads of romaine hearts
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken (approx. two 8oz boneless chicken breasts-- but canned chicken is so worth it for summer-- who wants to spend time cooking in a hot kitchen??!)
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (mmm Parmesan! Actually, I substituted mozzerella once and we fell in love with it so we use that a lot instead)
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup creamy Caesar dressing (I usually use Ranch just cuz we have it on hand.. of course, then you can't call it a "Caeser Wrap")
• 8 9-ince flour tortillas, plain or flavored
• Anything else you have on hand that sounds good and doesn't require cooking! Last night we had avocado in ours-- thanks Tia for the avococado tool-- freakin' amazing!!!!!! ;-)

1. Chop Romain hearts into bite-size pieces: place in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients, except tortillas, and toss well to coat.
2. Soften tortillas in microwave oven (about 20 seconds on high)
3. To make wraps, place tortillas on plates and spoon Casear salad along center. Drizzle with additional dressing if desired. Roll tortilla from one side, burrito style, folding bottome up and in to hold in salad. Repeat for remaining tortillas. Makes 4-6 servings.
4. Eat 'em up while they're nice and crunchy!
   

If you want to turn some delicious summer fruit into something a little more special:

Lime-Ginger Honeydew

• 1 lime
• 1 tsp finely grated, peeled fresh ginger
• 1 large honeydew melon, cut in chunks (approx 10 cups)
• 1/3 cup Sugar & 3 Tbsp water

1. Bring 1/3 cup sugar and 3 Tbsp water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat; stir to dissolve sugar. Refrigerate 5 minutes to cool.
2. Grate zest and juice lim. Stir 2 tsp zest, 1 Tbsp lime juice and the ginger into the sugar syrup. Pour over melon chunks and stir gently with a rubber spatula to mix and coat.
3. INDULGE! =)

I rarely have everything on hand for this (fresh ginger and limes). For a cheater version of this I will just blend up some honey, bottled lime juice and powdered ginger, then toss in the honeydew and coat. A bit different, but very tasty. I love honey on fruit! The lime zest really does add a nice dimension if you're choosing between buying lime or fresh ginger.