Tag Archives: foodie

High Antioxidant Carrot Bean Dip with Mary’s Gone Crackers

09/01/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Mary’s Gone Crackers recently sent me a package with four of their Super Seed Cracker varieties to try. They provided them free of charge and only asked for a delicious recipe in return. Make a healthy recipe and get awesome organic and nutritious crackers? Win-Win!

Mary's Gone Crackers, bean dip, healthy recipe, football

I’ve been enjoying their Original Crackers for a few years already, but the different flavors were a nice change. My favorite way to enjoy is by pairing them with baby carrots for a super crunchy snack with a little sweetness from the carrots balancing the light saltiness. And of course dipping in cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, crunched on salad, and bean dips are all spectacular uses. On our recent 9 Year Anniversary trip to Travaasa Austin, Going Mom and I both snacked on the crackers in delight.

mary's gone crackers, avocado, travaasa, food, healthy fat — Anchovies + avocado + Mary’s Gong Crackers = Delicious!

I have an affinity for dips, so it didn’t take long to decide on creating the perfect dip for these lovely crackers. Taking my love of pairing carrots with Mary’s Gone Crackers, I knew just what to do. With steamed carrots, beans, and several health-boosting herbs and spices, the dip was done in under 10 minutes.

Mary's Gone Crackers, bean dip, healthy recipe, football

The flavor was just like a good bean dip with a little sweetness added from cooked carrots. Turmeric adds some earthiness and a host of health-promoting benefits. One of them being that it helps to retain beta carotene from the carrots.

Mary's Gone Crackers, bean dip, healthy recipe, football

Mary’s Gone Crackers are one of the few foods I feel good about eating even though they are packaged. No added oils (even helthy ones usually get damaged from high heat processing), lots of delicious nuts and seeds, and all organic make them a great choice for anyone. And if you love crunchy, then these are the crackers for you! Seriously, just crumble them on a salad or over eggs, they are wonderful.

I’ll stop going on and let you try for yourself. Once you grab a box (or five), make this High Antioxidant Carrot Bean Dip to share or keep all to yourself.

High Antioxidant Carrot Turmeric Bean Dip

by RC Liley

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Cook Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients

1 15oz can of pinto, black, or garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup steamed carrots; Use pumpkin puree if you don’t have or don’t want to use carrots
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried parsley (dill or basil would be good too)
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Let me keep this simple…

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth; scrape down the sides once or twice to get everything.

Enjoy your new dip!

Have you tried Mary’s Gone Crackers before?
Ready for football season to start or could you care less?

Mary’s Gone Crackers provided their products free of charge in exchange for this recipe posting. All opinions are strictly my own and I was not compensated in any other way.

Food, Going Healthy

Five Things To Do With a Sweet Potato

08/12/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

The sweet potato as well as all potato varieties are incredibly underrated vegetables. Both offer distinctive nutritional benefits, but are completely different vegetables from each other. Sweet potatoes actually come from a completely different family in the plant kingdom. While many sources hold sweet potatoes on a pedestal claiming they are far superior to the regular “baking” potatoes, they both have a welcome place in our diet.

Just like the regular spud, sweet potatoes come in many varieties and range in color from a pasty white to a deep red; each imparting unique tastes and textures. Although sweet potatoes taste sweeter than their distant “white” cousins, they do not spike our blood sugar as much as the regular spuds.

One reason is the fact that sweet potatoes have almost double the amount of fiber than their counterparts; fiber plays a major role in slowing digestion and releasing sugar. Both varieties offer similar amounts of vitamins and minerals, but sweet potatoes come out on top for antioxidant content. So, don’t skip out on baked potatoes as they have a lot to offer in flavor and nutrition, but I want to focus on the sweet tuber today.

First, let’s look at how to select your sweet potato. WHFoods.com has great tips on how to select and store a sweet potato:

Choose sweet potatoes that are firm and do not have any cracks, bruises or soft spots. Avoid those that are displayed in the refrigerated section of the produce department since cold temperature negatively alters their taste.

Sweet potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark and well-ventilated place, where they will keep fresh for up to ten days. Ideally, they should be kept out of the refrigerator in a cool, dry, dark place not above 60 degrees F / 15 degrees C, which would fit the characteristics of a root cellar. Yet since most people don’t have root cellars, we’d suggest just keeping your sweet potatoes loose (not in a plastic bag, but if desired, a brown paper bag with multiple air holes punched in it will work) and storing them in a cool, dark, and well-ventilated cupboard away from sources of excess heat (like the stove).

After selecting a sweet potato or five following the tips above, here are some of my favorite ways to enjoy:

Sweet Potato Soup

1. Sweet Potato Peanut Stew or Bisque – Eatingwell.com provides a great recipe I use and change as needed. Instead of the tomato juice their recipe calls for, I use canned chopped tomatoes; sometimes I toss some cubed and cooked chicken breast in after pureeing for a protein boost. The peanut butter provides healthy fat that enables the body to better absorb the beta-carotene in sweet potatoes.

2. Sweet Potato Chocolate Pudding – So good. Cube and steam the sweet potato in the microwave, throw all ingredients in a blender with a little milk, and blend away! Add avocado for extra creamy nutrition; trust me. This is great hot or cold and with or without roasted peanuts added for a little crunch.

3. Roasted Sweet Potato – either cut into fries or simply cubed, I love baking these in a 375 degree over for 30 – 45 minutes. The roasting brings out the sweetness of the spud and is even better with cinnamon sprinkled on top. For something savory, toss with whole garlic cloves, ground cumin, and parsley to roast in the oven; this is great served cold too!

4. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili – If you haven’t combined sweet potato with black beans yet, make this now! When it’s hot outside, make it a cold salad instead by cutting out a few steps. Try adding sliced avocado for a cool and creamy addition with extra nutrition.

Eat Me.......seriously — Eat Me…….seriously

5. Sweet Potato Pancakes – a great change from regular flour pancakes for a special weekend breakfast; try this recipe I found on Pinterest you will love it! I use half unsweetened applesauce and half plain full fat yogurt instead of just yogurt. Whisk plain yogurt with peanut butter (Like NuttZo!) and honey for a tasty topping; sliced bananas with extra cinnamon is a great way to really up the flavor!

The potato is a versatile food and can be prepared in less than 10 minutes for when you have no time to spare. Kelley and I have found the Jersey Sweet Potato to be our favorite so far; we simply rinse and microwave for 4 -5 minutes and enjoy topped with plain full fat Greek yogurt. Similar to my squash puree mixtures, I sometimes use cooked sweet potato instead; this makes for a very creamy and delicious treat when mixed with frozen berries or bananas.

Don’t be scared to eat more potatoes, both sweet and regular are great nutritional powerhouses. Buy organic so you can just rinse the skin and eat it to obtain the vital vitamins and minerals it has within. If you do not buy organic, you might be better off peeling the potato to limit the amount of pesticides you ingest.

How do you enjoy sweet potatoes?

Food, Going Reviews

Gold Nugget Ghee: A Tasty Source of Health Benefits

07/29/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Just what is ghee, you ask? It’s made from butter that has been gently heated to remove the milk solids. This makes it a pure fat just like coconut oil with a high smoke point at 482°F. You can use it just like butter, and for those sensitive to butter, ghee seems to not trigger the same intolerance.

Ghee is chock full of fat soluble Vitamins A, D, E, and K. And wouldn’t you know, ghee is pure healthy fat allowing for easy absorption of these health-promoting vitamins. But, like most things, not all ghee is created equally; where it’s sourced is an important part of what makes it healthy. Enter Gold Nugget Ghee, committed to providing people the highest quality ghee on the market.

Daniel Draskinis, the founder of Gold Nugget Ghee and an avid outdoor enthusiast, set out to find something that would provide him sustainable energy for his adventures. From rock climbing to yoga to ultra marathons, performing at his best was vital. Through research and experimentation, Daniel created Gold Nugget Ghee.

GOLD NUGGET GHEE is committed to bringing people the highest quality ghee available on the market. We source butter from small farms in Northern California, which provides a unique rainforest ecosystem that allows cows to happily graze on green grass ALL YEAR long. We are committed to providing nutrient-dense ghee that supports your health, our planet, and environment.

Daniel graciously provided a jar of Gold Nugget Ghee free of charge for me to review. I’ve used coconut oil for cooking plenty of times before, but when I found Gold Nugget, I had to try for myself.

The source of food is essential if we want to give our bodies the best nutrients available, and Gold Nugget is right on target. What about the taste? Glad you asked, we love it! Going Mom and I first tried it in our black coffee since we’ve heard wonderful things about putting butter or ghee in coffee, aka Bulletproof Coffee.

Gold Nugget Ghee and Coffee

A rich, buttery aroma filled the air as steam rose from our hot mugs of upgraded coffee, and our mouths were greeted with a rich, nutty flavor. I could pick up slight notes of caramel as the coffee cooled a bit and it left me craving more. We added about one teaspoon to start, but now we’ll do almost two teaspoons.

Next up was cooking with our Gold Nugget treasure. With a high smoke point, it held up to the high temps of cooking on the stove as well as mixed well with steamed veggies.

ghee, healthy cooking, coffee, vegetables

Avery and and Going Mom gave me their empty plates and buttery kisses in approval. So ghee is good in coffee (I call it coff-ghee because, dad jokes) and savory dishes, but what about something a little sweet? Keeping with healthy, whole foods, I made cinnamon roasted carrots with ghee to put it to the test.

Gold Nugget Ghee with Cinnamon Roasted Carrots

MMMMmmmmmm! Nuff said.

Much like coconut oil, ghee is beneficial both in and outside of your body. It is used to treat burns and rashes, and as a moisturizer for the skin and scalp. What I appreciate about is that it doesn’t need to be refrigerated, which makes it the perfect food to take along when traveling.

Gold Nugget Ghee supports local businesses, holds up to the highest of mindful business practices, and put care into what they create. They also package their product in glass jars as opposed to plastic, so you can reuse the jar over and over again.

My family and I are nothing but pleased with Gold Nugget Ghee. We can feel the health benefits and taste them too! Every time my wife and I have our morning cup of joe, Gold Nugget finds its way into our mug and puts a happy, healthy smile on our face.

You can follow Gold Nugget Ghee on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up to date on specials and tasty ways to use their delicious food. Be sure to pick up a jar (or two or three) here.

Disclosure: Gold Nugget Ghee provided a jar of their ghee free of charge in exchange for my review. I was not compensated in any other way.