Homemade Italian Guacamole Dip and Garlic Crackers

One of our favorite places to go on a date is a great little Italian restaurant just down the street.  We have our favorite appetizer and dessert that we ALWAYS order.  But, sometimes we want those yummy treats without having to get a sitter, dress up, leave the house, and pay restaurant prices.  So, I have tried to recreate one of our favorites here.

This is an Italian style guacamole dip with crispy garlic crackers.  I searched all over the internet for over an hour trying to get a recipe for this with no success.  So I thought I would share what we made here for anyone looking for this treat.

Here's what you will need:
double recipe for crackers - I just made biscuit dough and then added additional flour:)
1 chopped red onions
minced garlic
olive oil
1 cup grated Italian blend cheese
Italian spices (oregano, basil) to taste
6 avocado
1 chopped tomato
salt and pepper to taste

The crackers:
I have never made crackers at any point in my life...bread, yes...but crackers, no.  So, I searched the internet for a while and not finding a recipe that I loved, I decided to just make a double batch of biscuit dough.  I then kneaded in as much extra flour as I could.  Rolling the dough as thin as possible (the thinner the better), and cutting two large circles, I placed the dough on two round baking pans.  I especially like baking them round to get the great pizza style triangular shape for dipping when sliced. 

Next, I drizzled olive oil on the dough and topped with Italian spices, minced garlic, Italian blend cheeses, and chopped red onion. I baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until I could see crispy browning on the edges.

Here is the cracker before I placed the onions on top. I actually forgot them and took the picture and then thought something was missing and realized it was the onions. 

Here is the picture with onions.  It just truly looks so much more appetizing with the onions.  

This pan was my friend when it came to getting the crackers crispy:)

The dip:
I chopped 3 avocados  and massed 3 more.  I then added chopped tomato, garlic, Italian spices, salt and pepper folding over until all ingredients were combined well.

The final product.  Yum!

The crackers didn't get as crispy as I would have liked so next time I will try to use a roller to get them thinner and maybe cook just a bit longer.  Other than that, this was a fantastic appetizer and the kids loved it, onions, avocado, and all:)

Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt

Fall is here...I think.  Because we live in the Valley of the Sun, it is sometimes difficult to tell when autumn is officially here.  My mind tells me that it is time for baked pumpkin yummies, but the temperature outside (today around 100) tells me that it is time for ice cream.

So, to reconcile the two, I decided to follow a recipe that I found on Pintrest and make Frozen Pumpkin Yogurt.  It was so easy and only used four ingredients.

Homemade Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt
1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt, strained
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice


Mix the four ingredients together and stick in the freezer.  Set a buzzer for one hour and stir.  Set the buzzer for another hour and stir.  One more time, and you are done:)

I altered the recipe a bit (as I usually do...haha) and used agave instead of sugar.

In the end, I guess I didn't stir often enough because it is frozen pretty solid and is also more bitter than I imagined.  Guess I will do some adjusting to the recipe.  If I find a combination that I like better, I will follow up here with a new recipe:)

Spinach, Artichoke Pasta

I have been searching Pintrest for new recipes and found this spinach, artichoke pasta recipe.  Because we love spinach and artichoke dip, I thought I would give it a try and see how it would work for our family.

First, I gathered the ingredients.  I used fresh chopped baby spinach instead of frozen and doubled the recipe.  I tend to double recipes because of our family size but also because if I am going to use the time and energy to cook, I would like it to last for more than one meal.  At least that is the goal:)

Here is a picture of most of the ingredients.

1 12-oz box pasta (I used bowties)
1 tsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 8 oz package reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts (packed in water), drained and chopped
10 oz chopped, frozen spinach, thawed, with as much excess water squeezed out as possible
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
Additional Parmesan for serving


First, I sauteed the garlic in butter and then melted the cream cheese (not pictured above) in the mixture.

When it was smooth I added the milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and crushed peppers and simmered until smooth again.

Next I chopped the spinach and artichokes and added them along with a little Parmesan cheese.

I poured the mixture over cooked bowtie pasta and sprinkled a little more Parmesan over the top.

Peter and I love the dish, although it is very rich, a few of the kids liked it, and only one refused to eat it.  But, at three years old, I don't think that I would have eaten this either:)

The next day, we had the left overs as a side with grilled chicken...yum!

Chicken and Veggie Bake

I am always on the lookout for quick, healthy, whole food recipes that don't break the bank.  While looking around on Pintrest the other day, I came across a recipe that caught my eye.  I made a few alterations for our family and it turned out great.  Here is our Chicken and Veggie Bake.

I began preheating the oven to 350 degrees and sprayed a 9X13 dish with non-stick spray.  I had forgotten to thaw the chicken so I put in three pounds of frozen chicken tenderloins:)  I looked around to see what veggies that I had on hand that would go well in this dish and came up with new potatoes, baby carrots, broccoli, and yellow squash.  I chopped these veggies and placed them on either side of the frozen chicken like this.

 I baked the dish covered for 40 minutes.   Here is a picture of the final product.  Yum!  My kids prefer the carrots and broccoli to the potatoes so next time I will have more of those and less potatoes.

The Strawbery Flop

I saw this fantastic recipe on Pintrest for dehydrating strawberries in the oven to make a sweet and healthy snack.  So, I decided to give it a try.

I washed the strawberries and cut the stems off.  Then, I lined them on a baking sheet.

I baked them at 210 degrees for three hours using the Pintrest recipe.


But, my results were less than desirable.

So, I call this my strawberry flop..haha.  Three members of our house liked and ate them in spite of the detestable way they look.  I was not one of them:)

Anyone have any suggestions on how to improve this?  The picture on Pintrest had beautiful red strawberries but mine were dark and shriveled.

A Quick Healthy Lunch

Looking for a quick healthy lunch?  Here is what I do when I have little time to prepare a lunch for myself but want some real, whole foods to nourish. This has become one of my staple lunches.

I toast two slices of sprouted grain bread, melt a slice of cheese on each piece of toast (I happened to have cheddar today but I use whatever I have available), top with raw spinach, and avocado, and enjoy.  It is quick, easy, and quite yummy! 

Dinner is Served

So, once again, I over estimated how many days that my family would be content to eat Thanksgiving leftovers.  I love eating leftovers because it means less time in the kitchen creating something new.  I don't really love to cook in the everyday while managing the kids.  Holiday cooking is different though...love it...and love to involve the kids in the process.  After Friday, they were ready to move on...but I didn't plan this in my grocery shopping.  I LOVE cornbread dressing, turkey, potatoes, and cranberries and could eat this meal regularly.  But, my family doesn't agree with me.  So, I was looking for a quick and easy change from holiday leftovers and noticed that I had several tomatoes left that I didn't use up along with some broth and heavy whipping creme.  Perfect ingredients for tomato soup!  So, I chopped the tomatoes (normally I would use some onion or leek but didn't have any on hand today) and simmered them in the broth with a little garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano (also didn't have fresh spices so dried would have to do).  I started these ingredients simmering at our lunch break and started up the bread maker as well.

Here are the ingredients simmering.

 Here they are after simmering for a few hours.

About an hour before dinner I used my hand blender to puree the tomato mixture and added a little of the heavy creme that I had left from making whipped cream for pies.  I don't strain out the skins and seeds as I like to eat whole foods as much as possible.  They really puree quite nicely and you don't have the mess of trying to strain them out.
Here is a picture of the soup after being pureed and with the heavy cream added.

Add in the warm whole wheat bread and dinner is served!

Nothing like warm tomato soup and fresh bread on a cool evening:)  Not one kid complained about the soup even though they knew it was tomato...nice.

Ya gotta eat ya spinach...

Thick, green, and straight out of a blender.  What's not to love?  Haha!  I have been on a smoothie journey for many years now and have recently gone green.   Well, green with my smoothies anyway.

Originally, I started out using organic plain yogurt, fruit (both fresh and frozen), and apple or orange juice.  These are fantastic smoothies and my kids all couldn't get enough.  At first I added a bit of honey to even out the bitterness of the plain yogurt but over time dropped that as my kids grew accustom to the taste.

A few years ago, I skimmed through part of Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" and decided to start adding a few deviously deceptive things to these smoothies...and several other dishes as well:) Wahahaha.  I would add a handful of spinach.  At first, it was just a bit and I had to sneak it in when the kids weren't looking.

Over time, I have cut out the yogurt and have a 40% spinach, 50% fruit, 10% juice smoothie...or something close to that anyway.  I also stopped "sneaking" in the greens.  The kids had been drinking them for so long that they didn't seem to mind what was going in them...scary I know.

We like to use apple juice with blueberries or strawberries and orange juice with mango or other citrus smoothies.  I usually put in two or more bananas to help sweeten (the juice helps too) and then at least one other fruit.  I find that I have so much more energy and am more peaceful throughout the day when I start the day off with a green smoothie (and my prenatals and Omega3s too, of course).  It could be all in my head but, hey, it works.

Here are several of our green smoothie recipes.

Blueberry Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen blueberries
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

Strawberry Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2-3 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen or fresh strawberries
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

Mango Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen mango or tropical blend
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

I have tried tons of different things but these are the ones that tend to work best for us.  Sometimes I throw in a little kale or some other greens...just to shake things up a bit:)

Here are a few things that I don't put in.

Grapes:  I tried putting red grapes in a smoothie but my kids were bothered by the skins that didn't blend as well.  I might still put them in if ever I was making a smoothie for just myself as the flavor was really great.

Pears:  When we used pears, it seemed to give the smoothie more of a "gritty" texture that I didn't mind but a few of my kids didn't like.

Since the goal is to get fresh raw spinach down my kids on a daily basis, I stay away from the things to which they have aversions:)


I do also use quite a bit of frozen fruit as I have a hard time keeping fresh fruit around with my little ones.  I mean, really, if each child (5...as the baby is still mostly on veggies) has 2-3 pieces of fruit each day, that is a ton of fruit!  And, it goes fast.

In the end, I am happy to see them all drinking down their dose of fresh, raw greens most mornings.  Makes me feel like they are healthy kids:)  And, I am doing it myself (one of my great joys in life!) instead of buying from one of the popular and expensive smoothie stores. 

How do you get your veggies?