Jalapeno Poppers

Hello everyone!

It's been one very stressful week, Rachel is scrambling to move, and I have been stressed from work.

When you are having a terrible week it's okay to indulge in a little unhealthy food.

And believe me this has been a terrible week... for me at least.

With that said we decided to make yummy delicious bacon poppers!

Ingredients:

25 Jalapenos

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup of your favorite shredded cheese

your favorite bacon

Start off by cutting your peppers in half  lengthwise removing the seeds. (Tip: Do not cut off the stem end, the cheese will come out easily when it's cooking)

mix your cheeses together.

and fill the inside of the peppers with your cheese.

cut your bacon strips in half and carefully wrap the peppers with it 

and stick a toothpick through to hold the bacon in place.

Prepare your grill (I just throw coals in, light it, and wait for them to turn white)

We did 15 mins on each side until the bacon was crispy.

Or you can use your oven set to High broil.

In the oven you put in for about 5 mins on each side until crispy.

And the result is an extremely wonderful crispy treat!

It's warm, cheesy, and savory.

They taste the best when hot and fresh.

Enjoy!

I don't care if I'm on a diet, I will never, ever, give up bacon!

It is just fine to have it once in awhile ^_^

 Shirt curtsy of Rachel!

Megan's Green Smoothie

Alright to make up for the late post last week we are doing 2 posts this week 

and an update on my weightless! 

Weighed myself this morning and down from 313 to 284!

That is a total of 29 lbs!!!

I have to say I am feeling better and can't wait for more weight to come off.

I think the key to my journey is the recipe we are sharing with you today.

For my Green Smoothie you will need:

2 cups spinach (packed)

1-2 cups kale

1 banana

1/2 cup peaches

1 cup strawberries

1/2 cup blueberries

2 cups almond milk or water

measure your spinach, pack it in so you get lots of it.

2 cups of kale not packed (I am slowly working Kale in more but it doesn't blend well for me)

What is looks like in the blender.

and all the fruit. This will make it sweet and hide the taste of the greens.

Finally 2 cups of almond milk

Pulse and blend, you may need to stop and push the ingredients way from the sides. 

The finished product!

There are only 340 calories in this entire blender! You can drink this whole thing, and I do ^_^

I try to have it for breakfast everyday, sometimes lunch too!

I do not have the best blender in the world so it's a bit chunky. I only spent $20 on my blender so If you have a higher quality blender you will have smoother results.

It's a Himeko and Twi to brighten your day!

CranApple Juice

This post is a bit late, but it's a good one!

I have loved playing with my new toys I have gotten for Christmas.

This week we got to try out the juicer!

We decided to make cranberry apple juice because I had apples and cranberries are cheap this time of year.  Here are the ingredients we used:

one 12oz bag of cranberries

5 red apples

5 green apples

Slice up the apples

and core them

Then you just press them through the juicer.

We used mason jars to catch the juice. One for apple juice and one for the cranberry juice.

The cranberry juice came out a pretty blood red color, but an entire bag barely took up 1/3 of the jar.

We slowly mixed the apple and cranberry juice together between the 2 mason jars.

This was the result, very foamy...

and delicious! 

Now I didn't want all the fruit fiber or pulp go to waste.

We added about 2 tablespoons of agave nectar and spread it on parchment paper in the dehydrator over night at 115 degrees. 

Results were a tough fruit leather that, as long as you didn't mind chewing, was wonderful!

Sorry for the week late post, we hope to make up for it...

With this adorable picture of Lexie! 

She is Rachel's 16 year old Bichon Frise that wishes she were a panda.

Almost Raw Cashew "Cheesecake"

Happy New Year Everyone!

It's the time when people are deciding what they want to focus on for the next year, we are no different.

This year I decided to make my health a priority, loose weight, lower blood pressure, and get into shape.

Rachel has her goals too, She wants to get married, love her fiance more, and lose 10 lbs (She wants to lose more, but it's a start).

Today because it is the New Year we made something healthy, but it's a dessert!!!

And yummy by the way!

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups almonds

1 cup or 1/2 lb dates

Filling:

2 cups soaked raw cashews (Soaked in water overnight)

1/2 cup Lemon juice 

(or 1/4 c which is what we are doing next time, lemon flavor was really strong)

1/2 cup agave nectar 

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

Start with the crust in a food possessor. Almonds and Dates together. 

Pulse on high for about 1-2 minutes.

Press into a pie pan (wet your fingers with some water to help with stickiness) 

For the filling juice some lemons.

and add to your blender or food processor.

next add the cashews

To heat up the coconut oil, boil some water on the stove and let it sit in a glass container for about a minute.

This is what you get, almost completely melted.

Last add the agave nectar, vanilla and salt.

This is the first time we are using agave nectar and it's crack... so addictive!!!

pulse and puree until you get a nice smooth consistency. 

Pour the filling into your crust, smooth it out.

Then place it in your fridge for about 2 hours.

The final result!

I think it taste amazing, a bit too lemony for my liking, but I put some pureed strawberries onto and it hid the overpowering lemon taste well.

Rachel didn't like the over powering lemon taste as well, but likes it and will want to make it again.

The texture is very similar to cheesecake and is very creamy.

We would both like to say do no make this expecting cheesecake because you will be sorely disappointed.

Yummy! It has my stamp of approval!

Oh and I forgot to show you everything I got for Christmas! 

I made out like a freaking bandit this year!

Food processor and Juicer from my loving Panda Rachel, Blender from my Hubby, and a new Kitchenaid mixer from my Dad and Aunt! 

Seriously you have no idea how badly I needed a new mixer.

The one on the left is over 25 years old and only had 2 speeds (even though it was supposed to have 10)

The speeds are fast and OMG IT'S GONNA BLOW UP! 

So Thank you Dad and Aunt Jenn, I love you both!

This week we share with you my other furry baby, Himeko!

Isn't she cute?