My dear husband is doing a high protein low carb diet right now and requested lettuce wraps for dinner last night and since I didn't have any ground chicken on hand and didn't want to have to run to the store I just opened up my "Homestore" and whipped this delicious healthy meal in no time! I used Chicken TVP in this recipe but you could easily use the Chopped Chicken
as well it will just have a slightly different texture then you might be used to since it's not a ground meat but the Chicken TVP is like ground chicken so the texture is the same. I found a basic recipe online and then just converted it using THRIVE ingredients and I add a few as well like the Carrots and Mixed Bell Peppers, I might even add some Mushrooms next time as well! The recipe already called for Chopped Onion as well as Green Onion so I was more than happy to use my THRIVE onions and not have to chop anything!
I also didn't have any Soy Sauce on hand "Homestore" to the rescue again, I found this powdered Soy Sauce at FireHouse Pantry along with a bunch of other treasures and have loved being able to have all these powders on hand for cooking as well as making Meals in a Jar! Be sure to check them out as well! Ok enough talk already on to the recipe!
In a large skillet over medium heat combine chicken tvp, garlic, onion, carrot and peppers with water, stir until well moistened and simmer for 3-5 mins until mixture is rehydrated. Add remaining ingredients with the exception of water chestnuts and green onion. Mix until well combined and heated through and the rest of the water has cooked off. Stir in water chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 mins; season with salt and pepper to taste.
To serve spoon chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf and eat taco style. Yields 4 servings.
Enjoy! If you try this recipe I'd love to hear from you and share with us what you thought!
I Love putting a THRIVE twist on a classic recipe! Typically rice pudding calls for raisins and cinnamon but this morning we opted for Freeze Dried Mango and Vanilla Powder...it was delicious!
The recipe calls for dried orange zest of course if you have fresh use it, I rarely do so I found some at http://www.firehousepantrystore.com/ and it's great to have on hand for recipes like this! I hope you enjoy this recipe and please leave me a comment with your results!
Mango Rice Pudding
3 cups white rice, cooked 3 cups milk 2/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup mango 1 teaspoon vanilla powder 1 teaspoon of dried orange zest
Directions: Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 25 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.Stir occasionally so rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Spoon pudding into a serving dish and dust with additional vanilla powder if desired. Serve warm or chilled.
Loaded with vitamin C, this cruciferous cousin to broccoli was once revered by the French King Louis XIV, can you guess what it is?
It's Cauliflower!
To tell you the truth I wasn't really ever a fan of it before I started using THRIVE but now it's my secret weapon! I throw that stuff into all kinds of things! My top 3 favorites are scrambled eggs, smoothies and soups! You want to know the best part, I don't have to wash or chop a bit because I have THRIVE!
Have you ever snuck veggies into your family's food?
Check out this article about some of the amazing Health Benefits of Cauliflower! http://www.trueactivist.com/7-health-benefits-of-cauliflower-and-mashed-cauliflower-recipe/
It's been a while since I last posted here and I want to get back into it so I'm going to start with a delicious recipe featuring Butternut Squash! Why Butternut Squash you ask, well let me tell you a few things about this Powerhouse food!
"Low in fat, butternut squash delivers an ample dose of dietary fiber, making it an exceptionally heart-friendly choice. It provides significant amounts of potassium, important for bone health, and vitamin B6, essential for the proper functioning of both the nervous and immune systems." - http://www.wholeliving.com/134734/power-foods-butternut-squash
So why not Butternut Squash I say! It's been quite rainy here in the Valley of the Sun this past week so I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner the other night and it just so happened that I came across this quick little video so I knew what was going to be on the menu that evening.
Looks amazing right, who wouldn't want to have this for dinner! So because I'm blessed to have a Homestore I whipped this little baby up in no time at all. In fact I posted about making this on my fb page as it was simmering on the stove because I wanted to share the love!
I didn't follow the recipe exactly but pretty close. I added a 1/2 cup of freeze dried cauliflower and omitted the brown sugar. I also used half and half instead of heavy cream just to kick up the nutrition factor. It turned out perfect, still with a hint of sweetness with the cinnamon and vanilla but not overly sweet. I also used an immersion blender like this one, which made the whole blending process SOOO much easier! If you don't have one of these bad boys' be sure to pick one up on your next shopping trip!
My family loved it! All 5 kiddos and my hubby! I know soup can be difficult for toddlers to eat but my 22 mth old and 3 year old slurped up this thick and creamy goodness just fine. Now my biggest food critic is my 6 year old son and he is particularly vocal if it has any "THRIVE" in it, which he says he hates but eats everyday, nice huh. Anyway even my picky little boy said "hey this is actually pretty good" Now that is HIGH PRAISE my friends, High Praise indeed coming from him! So I think this recipe will become part of our regular rotation from now on!
But the real reason I wanted to start back up again with this post is because the next day I realized how much having THRIVE Life food in my home has been a blessing to me and my family and I really want to be able to share that with everyone!
What I didn't say before is that I had a pretty busy day and dinner hadn't been started before my hubby got home at 5. Also it's resolution time so we've started exercising as a family & decided to go running that evening before dinner and didn't get back home till after 6pm, I had a meeting to go to at 7pm for church, oh and my dear husband said he was going to run get some trash bags really quick so he was out the door as soon as we got back from running. So now I needed to make dinner and I already knew I wanted to make this soup but still need to shower and get ready for my meeting but would I have enough time? With THRIVE I did! I stayed down stairs long enough to make the meal start to finish then ran up stairs so shower and get ready and was out the door by 6:45 just after my hubby got home (way later than I expected him to be)!
THRIVE allowed me to make a healthy delicious meal for my family in a matter of minutes with no work required other than scooping out what I needed and heating it through and still had time to get ready and out the door on time to my meeting.
Before I started cooking with THRIVE regularly my kids probably would've gotten sandwiches for dinner or they would've just had to wait till Dad got back from the store and hoped that he would make something. But instead we all enjoyed an amazing soup that really hit the spot on a cold rainy night and I made it to my meeting dressed and on time.
I'm so grateful to have THRIVE in my life and if you are at all curious about what having a Homestore can do for you and your family please contact me, I'd love to help you discover what Thrive has to offer.
Hey Guys!
I found a recipe on pinterest that I thought looked good but wanted
to try but of course I also wanted to make it even easier by using my
THRIVE ingredients, so we the One Pot Taco Rice Skillet was born!
We made it for dinner last night and loved how it turned out. I just
submitted my version of the recipe to the Thrive Life website and it's
waiting for approval but should be live soon! So just like that I'm a real
chef with recipes posted on a real recipe site, TaDa!
~Rachel
One Pot Taco Rice Skillet
by Rachel Hanchett on March 6, 2015
This one pot wonder is fabulously delicious on its own but is also fantastic
in tacos, salads, burritos- and even in stuffed peppers! There are not beans
in this recipe, but you can easily add a cup of the instant pinto or black beans
when you add the rice to this dish if you'd like!
Total Time:
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
20 min
5 min
15 min
Ingredients:
Directions:
In a large pan add all ingredients except the cheese and green onion
Stir well to combine.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer on low until rice is soft and liquid has cooked off.
Top with green onion and cheese, stir in until it melts.
Serve with your favorite taco fixings, lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, tortillas, chips etc.
I wanted to share another recipe with you today that is certain to become a family favorite in your house too, Creamy Zuppa Toscana! This is an Olive Garden signature dish and there are lots of copy cat recipes out there so you can enjoy it at home but THRIVE makes having this delicious meal so simple you may never go out to a restaurant again!
I've included the regular recipe and in BLUE is the THRIVE equivalent. I happened to have the pre-cooked bacon on hand so I just used that instead of having to cook that up on my own but even if I did THRIVE will still save a ton of time! As for the COOKING DIRECTIONS this is the easy part, just add everything to the pot except the spinach and cream and heat till boiling then reduce heat & add the spinach and cream then simmer till heated through.
The best part is our Sausage Crumbles are on sale this month for only $37.79 that is a saving of $10.80 off the regular price! Let me know, so we get some for your home store too!
5.Once potatoes are tender, add sausage, onion, garlic, and chopped spinach to the pot. Boil for a couple of minutes until the spinach starts to wilt. Reduce heat and add heavy cream.
6.Cook until heated through and add salt and pepper to taste.
So I have a confession to make...I've been fighting a cold the past few days so last night when it was time to make dinner I was SOOO not in the mood. I started looking through my fridge and cupboards hoping that something would magically appear before my eyes but of course as you well know that didn't happen. By then it was about 5:45 and we had some where we needed to be at 6:30 so I was seriously considering having my family eat cold cereal for dinner that night.
Then my brain started to function properly and I remembered I have all this amazing food right here at my fingertips and all I have to do is scoop and dump! So I decided to make chicken and dumplings! This has always been a family favorite in our house but before THRIVE it was never this fast and easy and to be honest this good either! I love the addition of the Veloute Sauce, it is a perfect thickener as well as adding the perfect amount of seasoning, love, love, love it!
So to make a long story short we were able to have homemade Chicken and Dumplings in about 15 min and had everything cleaned up and ready to head out the door by 6:30, plus this wonderfully warm tasty meal was just what I needed for my cold and much much better than having cereal for dinner and just as fast and easy! I hope you try it soon and let me know what you think!
Dumplings: 2 cups THRIVE Flour 1 teaspoon THRIVE Salt Ice water Directions: Fill large stock pot with 10 cups water and place on stove over medium high heat. Whisk in Veloute Sauce and Chicken Bouillon until dissolved. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil. While waiting for soup to boil prepare the dumplings. To prepare the dumplings: Mix the flour with the salt and mound together in a mixing bowl. Beginning at the center of the mound, drizzle a small amount of ice water over the flour. Using your fingers, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate about 3/4 cup of ice water. Knead the dough and form it into ball. Pull off a piece and drop into the simmering soup. Repeat. Gently stir motion so the dumplings become submerged and cook evenly. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy, 3 to 4 minutes. ***If you aren't a fan of the larger ball type dumplings then you can roll out the dough and cut into 1in square pieces and drop those into the pot one at a time as well*** Season to taste. Serve immediately and enjoy a healthy delicious dinner made in only 15 minutes!
