Honey-Pecan Pork Cutlets

Ingredients:

• 4 pork cutlets, tenderized, 1/4 inch thick
• 4 tablespoons flour (we used a white whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

Season flour with salt and pepper, dust surfaces of pork with seasoned flour.  Melt real butter in a heavy skillet (I like cast iron) over medium-high heat.  Brown cutlets on one side for 1-2 minutes, turn, stir together honey and pecans and add to skillet, stir gently.  Cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes.  Serve cutlets with sauce from skillet.  We added baked sweet potatoes with a little real butter and cinnamon and as always, a big green salad with a red wine vinegar dressing.  This was such a quick meal, I was able to prepare it on a busy TaeKwonDo night when we don’t get home until after 6, but it looked and tasted like something that took all day.

The best of this challenge was learning so many healthy, new recipes that everyone in my family agrees on.  They are hard to come by. Here’s a recap:

Sauteed Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Lemon Garlic Sauce

Stuffed Pork, Cheddar and Apple Panini

Pork Roast with Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Rosemary

And now for the giveaway details.  One lucky Broccoli Cupcake reader will receive this fun prize pack:

• 8 $5 pork coupons ($40 value)
• Reusable grocery bag
• Water bottle
• Digital meat thermometer (I use this all the time now & stopped over cooking all of our meat)
• Pedometer
• Recipe book

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment letting me know which of the pork recipes you’d like to try (or have tried).  For additional entries, share one of the pork recipes listed above on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest page and leave a separate comment letting me know you’ve done this.

The giveaway ends at midnight central time on Tuesday, February 28.  I will choose a winner from all eligible comments at random and contact that person by email.  The winner will have 48 hours to reply in order to receive the prize.

Thanks for joining me in this challenge and good luck!

The first thing that attracted me to the book was the title.  I love the idea of focusing on food as a means to improve our health and help prevent disease and illnesses.  I’ve personally seen how changing our diet changed our health.  We struggled with allergies, eczema, anxiety, thyroid issues and just being sick all the time.  Food has played a huge role in helping us turn our health around.  I’m always learning and I’m always open to new resources that can help us on this journey to balance being healthy with enjoying life (and food!)

Joy breaks down the book by area of focus, including topics like weight loss, healthy hair, arthritis, migraine headaches, memory, insomnia, and cancer prevention.  Each chapter starts with an overview of the issue at hand, foods to embrace and foods to avoid, extras you can do beyond food choices to further impact your success, and the best part, an ultimate grocery list followed by a series of recipes and meal plan options.  She truly gives you all the information and resources you need to make wise choices and plan for success.  Whether you’re looking to drop pounds, slash cholesterol, boost your mood, strengthen your bones or simply get glowing skin.  Joy’s book has a plan. 

I’ve had the opportunity to try several of the recipes over the last few weeks and I’m pleasantly surprised at how easy and accessible they are.  I’m not a fabulous cook and my family is pretty picky.  In the past, I’ve struggled to get them to eat meals from other healthy cookbooks because they contained a lot of new and unfamiliar ingredients.  I’ve also struggled to find all the necessary ingredients at our local grocery store.  Joy’s recipes offer a lot of variety, but use accessible and familiar foods and seasonings.   

One of my favorites, which has become a morning staple, is the Pumpkin Oatmeal!  It’s such a great way to start a fall morning and it really fills you up.  My little guy loves this recipe as much as I do.

Prepare 1/2 cup dry oats with 1 cup fat-free milk (we use almond milk) and mix with 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1/2 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin puree, a pinch of salt and a 2 teaspoons of sugar (we don’t eat sugar so I use a few drops of stevia or honey).  Top with optional 1 tablespoon of wheat germ, which I do because it’s a great energy boost.  Sometimes I throw in a pinch of cinnamon and some walnuts too just to mix things up. 

Overall, I absolutely love the book and think it’s a great resource for healthy living and healthy cooking.  I’ve been using it for several weeks to inspire our meal plans and it’s been a huge help.  

I did find I had to switch out a few ingredients because we try to eat very clean, focusing on real foods, so we don’t use white sugar (or sugar substitutes like sweet-n-low) in our recipes.  We also choose real butter over soft tub spreads and expeller pressed coconut oil over other oils like canola when it comes to cooking.  These are pretty easy things to switch out in a recipe.  It’s usually an equal exchange and doesn’t alter the overall taste.   

 If you’re looking for a resource to help you address a specific health issue or just something to keep the healthy, creative meal ideas flowing, I’d highly recommend Joy Bauer’s Food Cures. 

I received a copy of Food Cures free for the purpose of review.  All ideas and opinions expressed in this article are my own.

Black Bean, Corn & Avocado Salad with Cilantro Dressing from Karmatarian

Fresh Squash Chips & Fiesta Dip from Southern Living

Fiesta Lime Rice from Skinny Taste

Cumin-Lime Shrimp Fajitas from Natural Health Magazine

Green Mango Margarita Sorbet from The Ivory Hut

What are you eating tonight?

You’ll need:
3 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter (I used organic pastured butter)
1/2 cup raw coconut oil, melted (I used expeller pressed -no coconut flavor)
1 cup real Grade B maple syrup
1/2 cup of organic applesauce
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
3 cups well packed shredded zucchini
2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour (I used fresh milled, but stone ground organic works too)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, butter, oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, applesauce and syrup together. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and fold in the zucchini. Add an extra sprinkle of flour if the dough looks too wet.

Pour batter into two greased (I used a little coconut oil to grease my pans) 9 inch loaf pans. Bake 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Enjoy!

by Royalty-free image collection

It’s cantaloupe season.  The grocery store, the farmer’s market and roadside stands are loaded with fresh, juicy cantaloupe.  I’m loving it!  Cantaloupe is one of the few things my boys actually agree on.  They both love it.  Sliced, cubed, balled…they eat it up every time I put it in front of them.  The only problem is that I’m not very good at picking out the best of the bunch.  I usually end up with one that’s a little too ripe.  If we don’t eat all in the first 1-2 days it’s no good and the leftovers end up in the compost bin.

This week, a kind older man at the farmer’s market shared his secrets with me.  There are three things to look for in the perfect cantaloupe. 

1.  It should smell sweet. 

2.  It should feel heavy in your hands.  Heavier than it looks.

3.  The end should give, just a little, when pressed on.

With these tips in mind I came home with the perfect cantaloupe.  It was so good we ate the whole melon in one day.  Now we need another.

We generally eat our cantaloupe sliced into “smiley wedges,” but if you’re looking to try something different here is a recipe we served at our wedding (8 years ago and I still remember it!).  It’s for cantaloupe/bacon wraps.  The combination of sweet and salty is delicious. 

Check out Tasty Tuesday for more refreshing summer recipes.

Cantaloupe/Bacon Wraps:

Cut up 2″ squares of cantaloupe and wrap in thick cuts of bacon.  (I prefer pastured bacon or organic/nitrate free bacon.)

Place 3-4 squares on a skewer to hold the bacon in place.

Grill until the bacon is done, turning often to prevent flare ups.

Enjoy!

Me and my boys - my inspiration for healthy living

 I guess is health and wellness or healthy living.  I cover a lot of topics under this umbrella from cleaning and beauty products to food news and healthy recipes.  Anything that impacts my ability to live a healthy, happy life fits.  I learned three things through today’s challenge that I wanted to share.

1.  I have a food facination.  I love to read about, study, cook and eat all kinds of food.  I’m fascinated by food’s ability to heal our bodies, change our moods, and bring us together as a community.  I realized that although I’ll never be the go to resource for new and exciting recipes (I just don’t have the cooking gene), I will continue to be a resource when it comes to learning about food and how it can help us live a healthier, happier life.  Most of the blogs in my reader have to do with food and I have more cookbooks than any one person really needs.  I’m a foodie at heart.  For those of you who like to cook healthy as much as I do…I’ve added a really cool natural food recipe search tool to my sidebar.  I came across it while exploring one of my favorite blogs…Deliciously Organic. 

2.  All of the blogs I love have one main thing in common (other than talking about food) – photos!  They are packed with beautiful pictures that compliment the writing and make the site visually interesting.  The photos draw me in and encourage me to keep exploring the site even after I’ve finished reading the post that orginially caught my attention.  I have to confess that I’ve simply been lazy when it comes to including good photos with my posts.  Because I’m always so busy with the kids I don’t take the extra time to photograph my recipes or search for photos to compliment my topics.  I promise to do better on this. 

3.  I can be really hard on myself when it comes to my blog.  I worry about how often I post.  Whether the topics I’m writing about fit within my readers expectations.  The quality of the writing.  The variety I offer.  The quality of the information.  And so on.  In exploring other blogs today I came to the realization that I’m too hard on myself.  I need to spend less time worrying about what I’m posting and more time simply being myself.  My favorite niche bloggers show their personality through their sites.  After spending time with them online I feel like I know them…like I could meet them for lunch and I’d have no problem talking to them for hours.  I think I tend to be somewhat reserved in my blogging.  Moving forward I’m going to work on letting more of me shine through. 

Nothing earth shattering, but I enjoyed the exercies.  Below is a list of blogs you may enjoy exploring, but before you go leave me a note and let me know what you like about Broccoli Cupcake.  What else would you like to see?

Deliciously Organic

Sprouted Kitchen

Tartlette

Green and Clean Mom

The Green Parent

Green-Lemonade

by nerissa's ring

 quick second post. Wow! Two posts in one day. I don’t think I’ve ever done that.
So you can understand why this is my healthy version I’ll tell you that I used to make Jambalaya using the Zatarain’s box mixed with low fat Kielbasa sausage. I stopped making it for about six months when we first started our “clean eating” effort, but it was a family favorite so recently I went in search of a new way to make it.

Being a mediocre cook and really busy the last few months I didn’t want to follow a complicated recipe with a lot of ingredients. I had two objectives. 1. Replace our pork sausage with a healthier meat. 2. Replace the Zatarain’s mix with fresh ingredients.

So here it is. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s healthier than our old version and very tasty. I’ve actually made this for friends and had them request the recipe (a term I use loosely because there’s so little involved). It doesn’t taste exactly like traditional jambalaya, but it works for us.

Ingredients:
1 package of organic mild Italian chicken sausage (we get ours at Publix)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 small onion
1 cup Quinoa (we like Bob’s Red Mill)
2-3 tablespoons of expeller pressed coconut oil

Directions:
On medium heat, melt 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil and drop in the chicken sausage. While that’s cooking, wash and slice green and red peppers and small onion. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add 1 cup of Quinoa (we use Bob’s Red Mill). Bring it back to boil, reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for 12 minutes. Remove Quinoa from heat, fluff with fork and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the veggies to your chicken and sausage and cook for just a few minutes – until desired tenderness. Serve chicken sausage and veggies over quinoa with a little juice from the pan. The flavor of the chicken sausage mixes really well with the veggies and quinoa so you shouldn’t need any other seasonings. But my husband usually adds a little sea salt and pepper to his.

That’s it. Fast and easy and it tastes good! If you make it let me know what you think. If you try a variation please share your recipe. Do you have a traditional favorite like jambalaya you’ve made into a healthier recipe?