Growing up, my sweet grandmama had a pressure cooker. She cooked quite a bit of meals in it, but my favorite was her fried chicken. My mouth is watering just thinking about that chicken–juice on the inside, crispy on the outside… Sorry, I’m getting a little distracted by the memory.
Unfortunately, today’s pressure cookers don’t fry chicken like the old ones, but they are much safer. We recently acquired a Cuisinart Pressure Cooker. I know lots of folks who have an Instant Pot. I think the Instant Pot is the more popular brand, but I from what I understand they are about the same.
We’ve made several recipes like cubed steak, whole frozen chickens (cooked in about half the time it takes to roast a fresh one), dried beans, brown rice, chicken and rice, and more. I think my favorite recipe right now is this spaghetti squash recipe I’m sharing below.
I love that pressure cooking shaves so very much time off of my cooking tasks. I’m always looking for ways to lighten my load and give more time to my family. Pressure cooking has been such a lifesaver for us. In fact, my husband is so intrigued by it that there have been many times when we’ve both had something on our evening schedule, and he has come home, thrown ingredients into the pressure cooker, and prepared dinner for us. I think it’s a bit of a Tim Taylor–MORE POWER grunting mentality, but that’s okay…whatever gets it done!
Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Squash
Spaghetti squash
1 cup water
Place rack and 1 cup of water in pressure cooker. Cut spaghetti squash in half and remove seeds. (You can remove seeds after cooking, but it’s much easier before. I forgot on to do it beforehand on this particular day.) Place it in pressure cooker. Using high pressure, cook for 8 minutes on high pressure and use quick pressure release.
Using a fork, scoop out squash, which fluffs out into strands like spaghetti noodles. Serve with your favorite meats and sauces.
This morning, I’m sharing a recipe with my friends over at Raising Homemakers. It’s a recipe for a healthy and guilt-free alternative to potato chips. Stop on by and check it out here.
A sweet aroma is in the air… Well, love is in the air too since it is Valentine’s Week. Today, I’m sharing a new cookie recipe I’ve been making for my sweet valentines lately. It’s a delicious peanut butter cookie recipe that is healthy, sugar free, gluten free, and low carb. For Trim Healthy Mamas, these cookies are a satisfying S that shows how much you love yourself and your family.
Peanut Butter Cookies, low carb, sugar free, THM S
Using mixer, cream butter, gentle sweet, and stevia. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Mix in peanut butter. Add baking blend, baking powder and salt. Stir in optional chocolate chips. Scoop tablespoon-sized amounts of dough and roll into a ball and place on prepared cookie sheet or stoneware. Gently smash down with fork and sprinkle each one with gentle sweet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
Rich, frothy, buttery, strong – that’s how I like my coffee. I am always looking for new flavors and healthy recipes for coffee and other drinks.
Mint and chocolate are two of my favorite flavors, and I was REALLY looking forward to having a peppermint mocha coffee. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to find we were completely out of mint extract. I had pumpkin spice and salted caramel earlier in the week, so I was craving peppermint mocha. Not craving any other flavors, I thought I’d see what kind of concoction I could create. Sometimes monumental recipes come from my little “experiments”. Occasionally it is an epic fail. NOT THIS TIME!
This time the cake batter latte was born, and it is SOOOOOO yummy! It may just top peppermint mocha as my favorite. Well, I don’t know it’s hard to top chocolate, but it is CLOSE! This recipe is lowfat, low carb, and very healthy, and I’m sharing it with you today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
1/4 tsp butter extract (not exactly clean as it contains propylene glycol) You could skip the coconut oil and use 1/2 tsp butter instead of oil and extract; may not produce quite as much buttery flavor as the extract)
Add coffee and all ingredients in order in blender, waiting to add glucommanan and protein powder last so they don’t clump. Blend until smooth and frothy. I think I’ll go curl up on my comfy couch, grab my blanket, and enjoy my cake batter latte. I hope you enjoy yours!
Maple, pumpkin, nuts, caramel–these are the flavors that I love year round. However, it is fall so I’m indulging in them even more now. Tonight I made a rich, butter pecan shake that was so good that I had to grab my computer and immediately share it. If you like this one, you might also like my Turtle Cheesecake Shake or Pumpkin Cheesecake Shake.
Butter Pecan Shake – THM S
2 tbsp chopped pecans
1/2 cup Daisy lowfat cottage cheese
1/2-2 cups of ice (depending on how much ice you like)
Blend cottage cheese and whipping cream first to get a very thick and rich base. Then add remaining ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. If you like it with a little more ice, blend for a shorter period of time. Finely chop a few extra pecans for a garnish if you’d like. Enjoy, and Happy fall y’all!
We all want to know the secret to staying on plan when we begin a new food regimen or diet. What’s your motivation for taking on a healthy lifestyle like Trim Healthy Mama and others? What’s driving you to begin, keep persevering, or jump back on the wagon? What keeps you on plan? You may be like me–I had several reasons for changing my lifestyle. My children and I have food allergies and intolerances. I needed to lose weight. I wanted to set a good example for my family. Ultimately, I wanted to glorify God.My main motivation these days is health. I’m a “purist”, which means I try my hardest to eat “clean”, whole foods, no chemicals or processed foods, nothing that God didn’t create naturally for us to eat and nothing that man has altered from God’s original plan. I don’t always adhere to this, but I try.
I happen to be a Trim Healthy Mama. You may or may not know this, but Trim Healthy Mama is not meant to be a diet. Many people treat it like one, but it’s not. It is a lifestyle change, a change in mindset, a retraining of old habits to new ones. I find that many people who treat THM and other plans like a diet are usually only in it to lose weight. While there is nothing wrong with losing weight, you will have limited results with this at some point. Somewhere down the line you will either meet your goal or give up. Either way if you don’t treat it as a lifestyle change, you will eventually enter back into old habits and the pounds will creep back on. It’s a slow fade, but it will happen sooner or later. I have found I stay on plan more when my focus is related to health and a commitment to a healthy lifestyle for The Lord and my family. I can’t serve Him and my family if I am trashing my body. I won’t have the energy, stamina, or health to do what they need me to do. It helps that the Trim Healthy Mama recipes are researched, tested, and delicious.
There are different variations to the recipes that make them a little more convenient for those who aren’t as strict on healthier ingredients and also variations with purer ingredients. They call them Drive-Thru-Sues. Even thought I try to eat clean and am considered more of a “purist”, I appreciate that Trim Healthy Mama allows for both lifestyles. I think many Drive-Thru-Sues end up becoming more purist because they see the benefits of incorporating more clean foods into their lifestyle. Trim Healthy Mama has their own line of clean ingredients used in their cookbook.
I find it easier to eat clean because I am intolerant to certain chemicals in foods. I didn’t know I had these at first. It took me going off of them and then “treating myself” to a treat by cheating to discover them. Then I finally got it through my thick skull that cheating made me sick most of the time. I had to get honest with myself and realize that I wasn’t “treating” myself. I was really punishing myself. I don’t deserve to be sick or to bring disease upon myself through the chemicals in foods. My body is not a trash can.I am a Child of The King. He values me and I should value myself enough to stop trashing my body. I should value you myself enough to eat God-created, nourishing foods so I can continue to feel energetic and healthy.
There are times when the enemy tries to convince me that the junk food is a treat, especially when I’m stressed. If I intentionally stop and think about certain foods I am disgusted and able to turn away and give the enemy the boot! The thought of eating something created in a petri dish in some science lab somewhere usually makes me sick to my stomach.
(Looks appetizing doesn’t it? YUCK!) I’ll be honest, there are times when I don’t exhibit self-control. I don’t stop to think about the consequences of my actions. I fall for the lies of the enemy and “treat” myself to his junk food. Then I have to endure feeling ill immediately or even sometimes the next day. Succumbing to temptation leads to sickness, guilt, and failure. Why would I choose to put myself through that? I
t’s really no secret–the main thing that motivates me has been around for centuries. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
I’m reminded that my body is a temple of The Lord. How am I glorifying Him by trashing my body? I’m not. If I seek Him first, He’ll be sure everything else is taken care of. Matthew 6:33 reminds us, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Every single day we have to make a choice on whether we are going to surrender to God or live for self and that includes what we eat. Many times we don’t see food in this way probably because eating is not a “choice” per se, and is necessary for our survival. Food is much more than a means of survival, especially when we look to it for pleasure. This verse clearly says “eat or drink, whatever you do”, so what and how we eat are choices that have the potential to glorify God.
It’s our choice. God honors choices that fall in line with His Word and will. Honoring God, setting an example, and staying well–those are my motivations. What motivates you or helps you stay on plan?
Sunsets, waves, sand, and shells – our family vacation was a restful and blessed getaway. Returning to reality was not so restful, but that’s okay. I am slowly, but surely easing back into my routine with just a few weeks left before we resume homeschooling.
Vacations are moments when you can take a break from the madness or mundane and set off on an adventure. I’m all for a good long lapse in my busy, everyday schedule, but I’ve learned the hard way that there are some things you just don’t want to break from–time with The Lord is one of those things and my healthy lifestyle is the other.
I’ve worked toohard to flush my progress down the toilet. After being on plan for over 2 years, I’ve also come to recognize those aches, pains, and moments of just not feeling right are usually contributed by a risky and foolish veer off course. My best friend and I both decided that if we were going to alter our THM lifestyle during vacation that it would probably be best just to allow ourselves some crossovers instead of going off plan.
Since I committed to stay on plan during this vacation, before our camping trip to the beach I began planning a menu and a shopping list. Planning ahead and preparing comes naturally to me. I know it isn’t that way for everyone, but anything worthwhile that you purpose to do in life takes some amount of planning. If you expect to keep everything on course without following a path or a map, you’re going to fall apart when the enemy distracts you–and you know he will.
Depending on the location of your trip and the resources available to you, you may be limited but you just have to get creative. Taking a Saturday or an evening or two of your time to plan ahead will make your trip so much more enjoyable. No one wants to return to reality at the end of vacation, but you’ll be able to handle it better if you’ve stayed the course. Returning from vacation feeling sick, bloated, fatigued, or guilty isn’t going to help you.
Here are some things that I don’t leave home without when we go camping:
We don’t eat out much whether we are at home or away from home. Between the expense, my children’s food allergies, and my food intolerances, it’s just not something we do often. If we do plan to eat out, I research restaurants before I even leave for the trip so I can scope out the menus for things we can eat.
COOKING
We do a lot of camping, so my sweet husband cooks on the open fire or on a portable grill. I do most of the cooking at home, but when we are on vacation he does most of it. Well, we are a team. I prep and he grills. I usually enjoy cooking, but this does give me a much-needed break.
Breakfasts
For breakfasts I usually make a batch of muffins or coffeecake at home before we leave for the trip. This makes the first morning of vacation chore free so my husband and I can relax. I save at least one serving of these goodies for the last day of our trip as well, which makes the morning we pack much easier and there isn’t much to clean up.
I bring pancake mix or all of the dry THM ingredients in a zipper storage bag rather than bringing all of my separate containers of ingredients. We also eat lots of eggs, bacon, and/or sausage. For our last trip, we also brought cereal and stovetop granola from the THM cookbook. We were able to sprinkle it on our yogurt or eat it with milk. This made a good snack for the beach as well. I also made packets of dry ingredients for the muffin-in-a-bowl recipe. This is a good FP snack, dessert, or breakfast.
Adding all dry ingredients to zipper storage bags is a great way to plan ahead for hot drinks and smoothies. All you have to do is add liquids and/or ice.
Lunch
For lunches, we usually eat leftovers from the dinner before. We also bring sandwich meats, sliced cheese, fruit, veggies, and bread. I make the Nuke Queen bread or Bread in a Mug recipes from the THM cookbook.
Snacks
Snacks are usually packed for the beach pretty quickly by using zipper bags or storage containers. I pack a variety of things like cheese, nuts, raw veggies, greek yogurt, fruit, deli meat. I make THM pudding, gummies, superfood chews from the cookbook before vacation. Of course, I can’t go on vacation without my chocolate! The Skinny Chocolate recipe from the THM cookbook is made from coconut oil, so it melts easily. That isn’t always practical for vacation depending on where you are going and your resources. Even regular chocolate will melt quickly on the beach, so I save my Lily’s chocolate bars for the nights around the campfire when the rest of my family makes s’mores. You could make on-plan s’mores with any THM S cookie recipe, THM marshmallow recipe, and the skinny chocolate. I have done this before, too. I make the cookies ahead of time before I leave for vacation. Josephs pita crackers or any THM cracker recipes from the book are delicious treats as well.
Dinner
Dinners are pretty easy if you stick to meats and veggies on the campfire or grill. We’ve gotten a little more creative and made these yummy meals:
Pulled Pork and Cole Slaw THM recipes – For our first night of vacation, we like to have an easy meal so that we don’t have to cook while we are trying to set up and settle in. On the day before our trip, I put a pork roast in the crockpot and cooked it all day. I packed a prepackaged bag of cole slaw veggies and packed ingredients to make dressing. All we had to do when we were ready to eat that night was mix the dressing and slaw, and warm up the pork in a pan on the grill.
Pizzas on the grill with side salad – We simply use Joseph’s Pitas, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and our favorite toppings. For my gluten free and soy free children, we used gluten free and soy free tortillas.
Sloppy Joeswith veggies – We made the sloppy joe recipe from the THM book by cooking it in a cast iron skillet and had veggies on the side. You could easily make a bun or bread before the trip, but I just had the filling with no bread.
Burgers – I brought a pre-made bun for the burger my husband grilled, and I topped it with a tomato slice, pickles, avocado, and lettuce. Veggies on the side are great, but the burger by itself is pretty filling.
Grilled chicken and veggies – I seasoned chicken with my favorite rub recipe Fiesta Chicken Rub and we had grilled veggies on the side. If you have the room, you could even bring tortillas and your favorite toppings for chicken wraps or tacos.
Salads – If you have refrigeration, you could easily make salads in a jar using Ball jars. Since the jars seal well, the salads stay fresh for days. You could prepare all of this ahead of time or you could simply make salad on a plate while on the trip.
I know this seems like a lot of preparation, and it was, but if you start early and plan ahead you can make it work. A few weeks before your vacation, you could plan to eat a few of the meals you will have on the trip, double them, and freeze them. Or simply prepare it the week before you leave so that they can safely be stored in the fridge for a few days up to a week before you need them. Be sure to research food safety and storage rules for and check expiration dates.
Making good choices is work no matter how you look at it. Sometimes we’re tempted to take the easy way out and give it to cheating. It’s worth it to take a little time to plan ahead. You deserve to treat your body with wholesome and healthy foods that your bodies needs to rest, relax, and enjoy your vacation.
Well, it’s going to be a while before our next trip so I’m off to enjoy some summer time activities with my children. Then I need to start planning for our next school year. If you are getting read to head out on a getaway with your sweet family, I pray it is a safe and blessed trip. I hope this vacation tips help you stay on plan!
Summer break is here and that means it’s time for lots of fruits and frozen treats! My children have really been craving slushes and ice creams. They have summer fever! We made this strawberry lemonade cream slush, and it was better than the ones I used to purchase at a certain fast food joint! It’s my new favorite dessert!
Spring is on its way! I usually enjoy winter, but it seems the older I get the earlier I look forward to spring. Of course, I have everything is connected to food. The fresh fruits and vegetables of spring and summer simply delight my taste buds–the colors, the flavors, the variety!
Even though it’s not strawberry season, I’m already experimenting with recipes for spring and summer! I always look forward to strawberry shortcake. It’s more of a summer dessert, but I’ve really been craving those bright, plump, juicy strawberries.
In anticipation of spring and summer, here’s a delicious strawberry shortcake cupcake recipe that is gluten free, low carb, and sugar free.
Whisk the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat with a hand mixer until combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and then place hulled strawberry down into center of each batter filled cupcake liner in pan. Bake on 350 for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean. There will be a little more moisture around strawberry.
Topping
You can serve with a dollop of homemade whipped cream sweetened to taste or you can make a thicker topping with 4 oz softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, 2 tbsp Gentle Sweet Blend or add more to taste. (I like subtle sweetness in my whipped topping.) Pipe onto top of cupcake. Enjoy!
Cheesecake is one of my all time favorite desserts, but it is no small feat to bake a cheesecake. My grandmama used to make no bake cheesecake from a box. She wasn’t one to use boxed desserts often but that was one of her ways of cutting down on the time and work to make cheesecake. Cheesecake in a box is full of chemicals and fake foods, so it’s not something that appeals to me any more. You can make your own no bake cheesecake without a box of powdered chemicals.
This weekend I was craving chocolate cheesecake so I experimented and whipped up this little beauty:
In a medium mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Set aside in refrigerator.
Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer, whip cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Mix in cocoa, sweetener, and extracts. Next fold almost all of whipped cream leaving a tablespoon or two for garnish. Sprinkle nuts evenly into bottom of four jars or dessert dishes. Layer cheeescake mixture over nuts. Pipe or spoon whipped cream over top and sprinkle with a few chocolate chips. Chill in refrigerator 2 hours.
We all want to know the secret to staying on plan when we begin a new food regimen or diet. What’s your motivation for taking on a healthy lifestyle like 
