Food finds worth sharing.

I feel like we should all have a moral obligation to share good things with each other when we find them.  Anytime I discover a new good thing and share it, I often find my friends already knew about it.  And I wonder why on earth they didn’t share it with me.  Seriously.  Help a sister out.  Let’s just make an agreement that when we find something good worth sharing, we share it.  Deal?

 

With that being said, today I wanted to share some “good food” finds.  Different foods we’ve discovered around here that we love.  And thus, I’m sharing.  I could probably break some of these recipes up into individual posts, but I’m not a food blogger nor will I ever be one (because cooking is definitely not my thing), so I condense these into one post.

 

{If you like any of them, you can hover over the photos and Pin it to Pinterest to access easily from there.   Juuust so you know.  You can also follow me on Pinterest here.  I only pin good stuff.  Not lame stuff. }

Onto the food.

 

I found this trail mix at Costco and I’m addicted.  So so good.  The perfect quick snack.  Handful here.  Handful there.  Good. Stuff.

I’ve tried my fair share of brown rice.  And generally I don’t like it.  It’s always too dry.  Or too hard.  Or too gross.  But this Brown Rice from Trader Joe’s is perfect.  It comes frozen and you just have to heat it up in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Fast.  Easy.  Good for you.

I’ve also tried just about every Hummus out there.  And this is definitely my favorite.  Olive Hummus.  I’ve only been able to find this specific kind from Walmart.  I like to eat this with Pita chips or Pita’s from Costco.

I’m generally  not a big fan of fish.  I sure wish I was.  But this Panko breaded Tilapia from Costco is pretty good.  It’s mild.  Not super fishy.  It comes frozen and you just bake it in the oven.  We eat this with the brown rice from Trader Joe’s and sweet potato chips (see below).  Quick easy meal with minimal work.  My kind of meal.

 

No-Bake Granola Energy bars.

These are really good, easy to make, and a great snack to keep me full from one meal to another.  AND my kids will eat them.  Huge plus.

Here’s the recipe:

2 C oats

1/4 C sesame seeds

1/4 C pumpkin seeds

1 C peanut butter–natural (I use Skippy–tastes the best)

1/2 C honey

2 C unsweetened shredded coconut

1 C flax seeds

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 C mini dark or milk chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients and roll into balls.  Put in freezer overnight.  Keep in refrigerator or freezer.

I usually store mine in the freezer, and then pull a handful out at a time and keep those in the fridge.

 

Spinach Protein Waffles

My kids love waffles.  But it feels like an hour after they eat them, they’re hungry again.  These protein waffles are super filling and you can blend in a bunch of spinach to make them even healthier.

And we love Kodiak cakes for Pancakes as well.

The recipe:

1 C Kodiak cakes (I buy a big box at Costco)

2 eggs

3/4 C milk

big handful of spinach

Blend all ingredients up in a blender and pour into waffle iron.  I doubled the recipe and it made about 14 waffles.  These also freeze really well.  I just put them in the toaster.  I first saw a version of these on Instagram by @cleansimpleeats.  She has a lot of great healthy food options.

 

Sweet Potato Chips

I’ve never eaten a lot of sweet potatoes until recently.  And we quite like them these days.  Just peel the sweet potatoes, slice them with a Mandoline Slicer Grater , spray a cookie sheet with coconut oil (you can buy spray coconut oil at Walmart or other grocery stores), spread out on cookie sheet.  Spray the sweet potatoes with coconut oil.  Then sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  Bake in 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until desired tenderness or crispiness.  I like ours a little more cripsy.

Make sure to use the safety feature on the mandolin.  The first time I used this baby I sliced off a pretty huge chunk of my thumb.  It wasn’t awesome.  Just one of many reasons I shouldn’t be found in a kitchen.

Another kitchen tool we’ve been using a ton lately is a Brieftons Tri-Blade Spiralizer.  It’s weird how just cutting vegetables a different way can make them taste so different.  I’ve been making a lot of “zoodles” using zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots.  I just make the zoodles using the spiralizer and saute them in a pan with a little olive oil and season with sea salt.  Sometimes we eat them plain.  Sometimes we put a sauce on them (from whatever other dish I may be making). Of course they don’t taste like noodles because they aren’t noodles, but they can make a really good replacement for noodles.  And the “zoodles” are kid approved by 3 of our 4 kids (that one kid shouldn’t even count though because he won’t eat anything “weird”).

And lest anyone thinks I’m always eating healthy, we LOVE these:

Reese’s Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

6 C Rice Krispie Treats

14-16 Reeses Peanut Butter cups, diced (not too small–about 9 cubes per peanut butter cup)

5 Tbsp butter

1 10oz. package of mini marshmallows and 2 heaping cups of mini marshmallows

1/3 C peanut butter (I use natural peanut butter-Skippy brand)

1/2 C chocolate chips

{A few hours before you make these, you can cube the Reeses and put them in the freezer to help them not melt as much.}

In a large bowl, combine the Rice Krispies and the Reeses cubes.  Set aside.  Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

In a large pot, melt butter over low heat.  Add marshmallows and continually stir until marshmallows are melted.  My mom taught me to remove the marshmallows AS SOON as the last one melts to avoid burning.  Remove from heat and pour over cereal and Reese’s mixture.

Stir gently until all combined.  Pour into 9×13 pan and press mixture down.

In a small bowl, melt the peanut butter in the microwave.  Then melt the chocolate in a separate bowl.  Transfer the peanut butter into a ziploc bag.  Transfer the chocolate into a separate ziploc bag.  Cut a small piece out of the corner of each bag and drizzle over the Rice Krispie treats.

Let set.  Sometimes I put them in the fridge to speed up the setting process.  These are always a HUGE hit when we take them to events and parties.

 

Last, if you haven’t tried this Spinach Protein shake, you should definitely try it.  Best protein shake I’ve ever tried.

 

Do YOU have any good food finds?  Seriously.  Share them with me!  Just leave it in the comments below.  One thing (or lots of things) your family loves.