Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Because you're never too old (or too healthy) to enjoy a grilled cheese, right!? Sometimes you just need some good, hearty comfort food. These used to be my favorite food when I was a kid - I lived on them. I know, not exactly healthy, but who's all that healthy as a kid anyway?

Anyway, this is the grown up version of the grilled cheese. I like to try and add greens to every meal especially if it's a not-so-healthy type meal, like a grilled cheese. This one is filled with grass-fed mozzarella, homemade pesto, arugula, and gluten free bed. Sounds pretty darn good right? Read on below for the recipe (it's a extremely simple one if you couldn't guess).

Ingredients:

• 2 slices gluten-free bread (I like this kind)
• 2 tbsp homemade pesto
• 2-3 slices mozzarella cheese (or any type of cheese you'd like)
• handful of arugula
• pinch of salt & pepper
• ghee

Direction:

1. Heat a small pan over medium heat.
2. Butter one side of each slice of bread with the ghee (the sides that will touch the pan), and spread the pesto over the two opposite sides of the bread.
3. Add the slices of cheese and handful of arugula to the sandwich and put the two pieces of bread together.
4. Place in pan and cook each side until lightly brown/crispy.
5. Enjoy that ooey, gooey, goodness. YUM!

Cauli Fried Rice

I've never been a huge fan of cauliflower, but recently I've been trying different ways to eat it so that I can incorporate it into my routine more often. I'm always looking for ways to get more cruciferous vegetables into my diet to help lower my estrogen levels, so I decided to try out cauliflower rice recently.

Side note: I have high estrogen due to PCOS. I haven't talked much about this on the blog even though it's been something I was diagnosed with a couple years ago, but happy to do an additional post on it if you guys are interested. It's something that at first was very scary to me and something I kept under wraps, but SO MANY girls are getting this diagnosis given to them these days, that I would love to talk more about it. 

Anyway, back to my cauli-fried rice. I saw an instagram post of cauliflower rice which inspired me to make my own version. I LOVE fried rice - maybe its the fact that I just love rice, eggs, veggies, and everything that comes in it, but it isn't all that healthy when you order it take-out, which is usually the only time I tend to get it. So... I decided to make my own!

Making cauliflower rice is so simple - as long as you have a food processor. Otherwise, you can buy it pre-packaged at Trader Joe's or other grocery stores I'm sure. You guys, if you have been reading and doing me recipes for a while at this point, and DON'T have a food processor, now is really the time to get one. Trust me, you'll use it more than you ever thought you would. 

Once you make the rice, the rest is easy. Throw in any type of veggies you'd like, plus a protein, eggs, and anything else your heart desires. I LOVED this recipe, and will for sure be making this again. Cauliflower has tons of vitamins and antioxidants, is good for your digestion and detoxification, and much more. Start incorporating it into your diet more immediately!

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower
• 2-3 eggs
• 1 carrot, chopped or grated
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• salt & pepper
• optional: additional protein such as shrimp or chicken

Directions:

1. Cut the cauliflower head into florets. Place the florets into a food processor and process on low until the cauliflower has the consistency of rice. Do NOT over process, or it will get mushy.
2. Heat a medium pan/skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and carrots and cook for a couple minutes until onions are translucent. 
3. Add the cauliflower rice, garlic, and frozen peas to the pan and cook for a few more minutes, mixing frequently, until the rice starts to soften.
4. Add the remaining sesame oil and coconut aminos, and continue to stir until well mixed.
5. If you are adding additional protein, like shrimp or chicken, you would cook this in a separate pan and then add to the rice towards the end. I didn't do any meat this time around (just because I didn't have any), but I think shrimp would have been so good in this recipe!
6. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

Chicken Quinoa Casserole

This is my new go-to recipe for during the weeks. It's delicious, pretty healthy (make sure to check out the substitutes I use below), and the leftovers last literally all week for me. It reheats well for lunch and tastes just as good as when it first came out of the oven.

The recipe is pretty simple to make - just 11 ingredients (or less depending on what additions you add), and about an hour of your time. To begin, preheat the over to 400 degrees, and grease a 9x13 baking dish (I use coconut oil to do so). Bring the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of milk (I used almond milk) to a boil in a medium/large sized saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk the other 1/2 cup of milk with flour (I used almond meal - see portions below) and poultry seasoning. Combine both together in saucepan and stir until the mixture is creamy.

Next, mix the sauce with 1 cup of water, quinoa, and bacon (I used turkey bacon, you can substitute pretty much anything you'd like though, like ham, or sausage) in a large bowl and stir. Pour this into the greased baking dish and add the chicken breasts (sliced thinly) on top of the mixture. Sprinkle the seasoning over the top and bake for 30 minutes.

While the casserole is baking, we cook the broccoli! To cook it, I chopped up the broccoli into very small pieces, put it in a bowl with a tiny bit of water, covered the bowl and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. You can also cook it by putting the broccoli in boiling water until it turns bright green.

Once the casserole is done cooking, remove it from the oven and stir. You can cook it an additional 10 minutes if it's too watery. Once the casserole is thickened, add the broccoli and a little bit of water (1 cup or less), and stir until the mixture is creamy and stirs easily. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake for an additional 3-5 minutes to melt the cheese. That's it!

Quinoa & Broccoli Chicken Casserole

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk (option to substitute almond milk)
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 cup flour (option to substitute pretty much any other flour - see this chart for help) 
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1/4 cup cooked, crumbled bacon (option to substitute ham, sausage, or eliminate this completely)
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 teaspoons seasoning (I used garlic salt combined with an italian seasoning)
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzarella - Gruyere is a great option too)
• 3 cups broccoli florets 

*recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

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