baked salmon with avocado remoulade and corn salsa

Hubby and I have really been working hard to eat healthy lately.

Eating healthy is not always easy, but it is SOOO worth it. 

We both feel so much better and our bodies work so much better when we give them proper nutrition.

Being a relatively new mom though, I need easy meals to prepare.

But really, healthy meals don't have to be complicated.

And that's what I especially love about this meal.

The other night I realized I had two avocados that needed to be used ASAP.

They were perfectly ripe and ready to be eaten.  

So, I decided to make a healthy remoulade with them.

Ingredients:

Remoulade

2 ripe avocados

3 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp light olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Salsa

1/2 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 cup of corn (fresh or frozen)

1 medium or large tomato

lime juice 

chile powder 

Salmon

2 salmon fillets (I used frozen fillets)

seasoning salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

Method:

To make your remoulade, blend avocados, lime juice, and olive oil in a food processor or blender until smooth.  When finished, add salt and pepper and stir to combine.

To make salsa, combine black beans, corn, and tomato in a small bowl.  Add as much lime juice and chile powder as you like.  I would recommend only using a bit of lime juice, as it's already pretty strong in the remoulade.  If you like a "kick," feel free to add lots of chile powder or some cayenne pepper.

To make salmon, coat both sides of your defrosted (or fresh) salmon with olive oil.  Sprinkle both sides with ground pepper and seasoning salt (I used Lawry's).  Cover in foil and bake on a baking sheet for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

This meal was DELICIOUS and super filling! Hubby went out of his way to tell me this was definitely a repeat meal.  And he doesn't usually love salmon too much.  This meal had plenty of flavor and enough variety, that he really enjoyed it though.  And the best part, it was such a quick and easy meal to prepare!

What are some of your favorite easy and healthy dinner meals?

slow-cooker bbq pulled pork

I've never made pulled pork before. 

In fact, I've never really made anything with barbecue.  

But I had a pork tenderloin sitting in the freezer and thought, why not?

So I pulled out my slow-cooker and made up a recipe.

I started with a rub.  You can let it sit on the meat as long as you want. 

I put it on Saturday night and left it on until Sunday morning when I threw the whole thing in the crockpot.

Now I don't mean to brag...buuuuut, this was pretty dang good.

It even got the approval of my barbecue-fanatic husband. 

Success?  I think so.

Slow-Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork 

Rub Ingredients:

-1 tsp black pepper

-1 tsp salt

-1 1/2 tbsp chili powder

-3 tbsp paprika

-1 tbsp lawry's seasoning salt

-1 1/2 tbsp cumin

-1 tbsp dried oregano

-3 tbsp brown sugar

Other Ingredients:

-Pork Tenderloin

-1/4 c. water

-1-2 c. BBQ sauce

Method:

-Combine all rub ingredients in a small bowl

-Cover pork tenderloin with spices

-Wrap tenderloin with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge 3 hours-2 days.  Your choice.  (I left mine in overnight, about 12 hours)

-Add seasoned pork tenderloin to crockpot along with 1/4 cup water

-Cook on low 8 hours

-After the 8 hours, pull the pork out and lay on a cookie sheet or cutting board.

-Pull meat apart with two forks

-Empty the liquid from the crockpot and place meat back inside.

-Add 1 1/2 c. BBQ sauce to the crockpot and mix to combine with pork.

-Allow to cook 30-60 minutes more on low.

-Serve and enjoy on buns, sandwiches, over rice, or any other way!

-Feel free to add extra BBQ sauce 

spinach power muffins

I have had a slight obsession with spinach lately.  I've been eating it nonstop.  Seriously, it's SO healthy for you and SO easy to incorporate into almost anything.  In our house, I put it in our pasta, on our pizza, in our quesadillas, and anywhere else I can sneak it in.  

My current favorite things to put spinach in are muffins and smoothies.  I made these muffins yesterday for the first time and have a feeling I'll be making them again...soon.  Very soon. 

They were so simple to make, and they are absolutely delicious.  

You'd never even know there was spinach in them....wellll, except for the fact that they're green.  But taste wise?  Mmmm mmm delicious!

I modified a recipe I found on pinterest.

So here it is:

Ingredients:

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/3 c. white sugar

2 tbsp. oil (I used vegetable oil)

1/8 c. milk (I used 1%)

a splash of lemon juice

a splash of vanilla extract

1 medium banana

1-2 c. of baby spinach leaves (I used about 2 cups)

1/4 c. chopped almonds

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with muffin liners.  

-Mash banana in a medium-sized bowl.  

-In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

-In the same bowl as the banana, add the sugar and egg and combine thoroughly.  Once combined, add oil, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. 

-Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine thoroughly.  

-In a food processor (or blender), blend the spinach leaves until they are very fine.  Add to the batter and stir to combine.  

-In a food processor, blender, or just by hand, grind/chop the almonds to a texture/consistency that you like.  Add half the ground almonds to the batter and stir to combine.  

-Pour batter into prepared muffin tins and garnish the tops with the remaining chopped almond pieces.  

-Bake 20-25 mins at 350F. 

-Enjoy!  I found them equally delicious warm and fresh from the oven and at room temperature the next day.  I actually made some of these to freeze so I can have a healthy treat later.  

Are there any ways you secretly add a kick of health to your recipes?  

garlic shrimp with coconut, cilantro, and tomatoes

Growing up I hated vegetables.  I know a lot of people say this, but I mean I really HATED vegetables.  I avoided them like the plague.  When I first started college it was a big deal when I started eating tomatoes and cucumbers.  But now I'm working my way up to all kinds of vegetables!  I'm eating peppers now. I hope my mother is proud.

With all that being said, I've been making some delicious meals lately.  

One of my latest dinners was something I found off of pinterest.  

Ingredients:

1 lb. peeled shrimp

olive oil

1 red or yellow bell pepper (I only had mini peppers, so I used 3, yellow, red, and orange), sliced

1/2 cup fresh, chopped cilantro

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 14 oz. can of coconut milk

1/2 a lime, or a few squirts of lime juice

Sea salt

Directions:

Add sliced bell peppers to pan with olive oil and saute for about 5 minutes over low heat.  Add cilantro, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook for about 1 minute.  Add can of tomatoes and can of coconut milk along with salt to taste.  Cover and simmer on low for about 10 minutes.  Flavors will blend and sauce will thicken.  Add the shrimp to pan and cook until they are pink and done.  Turn off heat, squeeze lime juice over mixture and stir well.  Serve over rice.  Enjoy!

homemade oreo cookies

So my husband and I kinda have a love for those ever-delicious, horribly-bad-for-you cookies known as oreos. So I decided to try and make some homemade ones. They turned out pretty good actually.  If I had to change one thing, I might make the frosting into a cream cheese frosting, but overall it was a successful baking experience. :) Hope some of you give it a try!

I put a bit (meaning way too much) frosting on this plate of cookies, but they were the only ones I took pictures of.  Just learn from my example...don't over fill cookies...

Chocolate wafers:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

Filling:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and then the egg and continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass. Will be bulky. (If you're mixing by hand, like we did, this step may take awhile, so don't give up!)
2. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined (or greased) baking sheet approximately two inches apart. Flatten the dough and bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set cookies on a rack to cool.
3. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
4. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.