Tuesday Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Quesadillas

Some days you just gotta have some cheesy, spicy (or not) Texican-Mexican flavor! Here's a super fast resolve to settle your inner longing for the Southwest when you are far, far away and "#7 Speedy Gonzalez" menu item will never suffice.

Roasted Red Pepper Quesadillas

1/2 to 1 cup  bottled Roasted Red Bell Peppers, drained & sliced
1 tablespoon Mayonnaise (or Vegannaise)
1 cup + Colby Jack/Fiesta Blend or Sharp Cheddar, shredded
Cilantro, chopped
For heat: 1 Jalapeño Pepper, seeds & membrane removed, chopped OR
For heat: splashes of Sriracha, to taste
(optional: 1-2 splashes of Mesquite Liquid Smoke)
(optional: sauté one small onion, diced)
Flour Tortillas, size and flavor depends on you
Olive Oil or spray oil

• Drain Roasted Red Bell Peppers and slice into strips.
• In medium bowl, combine mayo, cheese, cilantro and chopped jalapeño. Stir in strips of sliced Roasted Red Bell Peppers.
• Heat skillet to medium to medium-high and lightly coat with oil.
• Spoon some of the cheese mixture onto one side of each tortilla. Then, fold tortillas in half.
• Slide the stuffed & folded tortilla onto the heated and prepared skillet for 3-4 minutes each side OR until cheese is melted and tortilla is toasted.
• Remove from skillet. Cut each tortilla in half or thirds to serve!

The breakfast twist on this recipe is to scramble one egg per tortilla. Spoon the cheese mixture and the scrambled egg onto one side of each tortilla and proceed with heating. Serve with salsa and additional cilantro! :)

Go play with your food!

Oatmeal Pancake

When I first started on my journey to a healthy lifestyle, nutrition had to be re-thought. I can cook fat foods like any good Southern girl, but had to learn to prepare fit foods. One of my lifelines in the early days was Lynda Layng who IS the Healthy Hoboken Girl and this is her Oatmeal Pancake recipe!

Oatmeal Pancake

1 Banana (halved)

1 Egg (or eliminate egg, see below)

1/2 cup (or more!) Old Fashioned Oats 

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 to 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

• While griddle or skillet is heating, smoosh 1/2 of the banana in a bowl and stir-in the fork-whisked egg; then, whisk together.
• Add oats, baking powder and cinnamon and combine. Let set for 5+ minutes. It gets a little frothy to let you know the baking powder is doing its job to help make the pancake fluffy!
• "Grease" your griddle. I use coconut oil as a good fat!
• Pour your pancake mixture into hot griddle/skillet and smooth into pancake shape.
• Let cook for 4-ish minutes and test the underside to see if it can handle being flipped over with the spatula.
• When pancake is ready, flip and brown.
• Serve with the other 1/2 of the banana sliced on top! 

TIPS:

**Sure, any old cinnamon will do, but I have recently discovered Saigon Cinnamon! Holy Cow! There's a difference! Plus, I did not list it, but I always use 1/2 teaspoon of Nutmeg, too.

**The egg adds moisture, loft and serves as a binder. BUT, if you want to eliminate the egg, a friend suggested using 1 to 2 tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon of oil whisked together with double the amount (in this case, 1 teaspoon) of baking powder. OR, just try (double the amount) 1 teaspoon of baking powder whisked with the banana.

**I like my oatmeal pancake drizzled with Agave Syrup or Honey instead of Maple Syrup. Also, the fruit toppings are endless, I just wanted blueberries to accompany my banana, on this sunny day which made for a great pic and breakfast on my front porch!

Thanks, Lynda, for helping me! I just wanted to Pay It Forward and bless you with my words! I'm still mostly plant-based and very active!

Let me know how it turns out for ya! Now, #GoPlaywithYourFood!

2-on-Tuesday: Hungry Quebbie Crêpes

In 2013, I started the year off participating in #FoodiePenPals. My March Foodie, Jo Beaudoin, over at Diary of a Hungry Québécoise shared some of her culinary, Quebec (or "Quebbie") heritage by bestowing me with her mom's recipe for crêpes!

I was always afraid of attempting to prepare crêpes because it's a French food preparation. Silly me. Jo assured me of the simplicity and tastiness of this breakfast-dessert. And, with her blessing I give you a dainty detour from my plant-based nutrition journey.

Hungry Quebbie Crêpes

4 eggs
1 1/4 cup Milk
1 cup All Purpose Flour
5 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

• Mix all the ingredients and whisk until you get an even consistency.
• Heat a large pan to medium.
• Spread a big spoonful evenly on the pan making one crêpe, at a time.
• When the edges start to get crispy (or lacy), flip it until lightly browned!

Now, what to stuff  or top it with?

Well, if one is gonna veer from her wise nutritional choices, she may as well make it flavor-FULL! Here are a few ideas:

• Softened goat cheese sweetened with honey
• Top with your favorite fresh fruit
• Dollop some cherry, blueberry or apple pie filling
• Whip powdered sugar into softened cream cheese
• Drizzle with 100% Maple Syrup!

Not only were the crêpes lovely to look at, but they were wonderful to devour. Bon appétit!

#impACTforLife ACTion Challenge - Week 2

Welcome Back! 
I hope Week 1 was an exciting boost to ACTivating your healthy and fit lifestyle. Keep those #impACTforLife posts coming as this week we'll set up for Week 3's intensity! Keep hydrating your body. You may want to subscribe to several of these great blogs!

#impACTforLife – Week 2

Nothing Changes until you ACT!

Monday

Continue your healthy habits from Week 1. Don’t let cooler weather derail you.

Set a new fitness goal.

Write it down! 

Be proACTive: Share your new goal with us using the #impACTforLife hashtag. Writing things down & sharing goals with others helps you stick to your commitment. You never know what may inspire someone else!

Some ideas: 

•    Run a mile without stopping

•    Walk a mile under 15 minutes

•    Register for a 5K

•    Do a handstand pushup

•    Lift weights 3x per week

•    Walk 10,000 steps 5 days a week

impACT App: RunKeeper

impACT App: My Fitness Pal

Tuesday

Rethink the pancake!

This quick morning pancake is full of fiber, potassium and protein! Think big oatmeal cookie!

impACT Blog: Morning Glory Pancake

Wednesday

Get up 15 minutes early to ACTivate your day with stretching and a new exercise!

impACT Blog: Runner's World

Thursday

Make a plan! Plan out your meals for next week and write your workouts down in your planner!

As a bonus: Bake cookies! Find a healthier recipe to try or make some healthy swaps to an old favorite!

impACT Blog: Nutritionella

Friday

Clean out a couple of closets and drawers!

Going up and down on a step-ladder can be a little bit of an exercise, but to initiate some sweat – set a timer every 15 minutes. When the buzzer sounds, do a set of crunches, leg lifts, arm circles and, then, get back to work.

Be ProACTive: Be ready to donate any items and clothing that are in good condition to Goodwill!

Weekend

Enough good ACTions lead to good habits!

Watching TV? Get up and move during the commercial breaks.

Try doing 15-30 seconds of pushups, planks, scissor jumps before you sit back down on the sofa, which keeps you ACTive as we move into Week 3 of our #impACTforLife ACTion Challenge!

By the way, if you haven’t settled on a Devo or Scripture Reading Guide for this year, check out: She Reads Truth either on the website or as an impAct App available as a "Plan" in YouVersion. 

2-on-Tuesday Recipe: Ham & Fontina Frittata

Several years ago, I requested cookbooks for Christmas and received the Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals Get Togethers. One of the family favorites was this breakfast meal. Don't let the fancy-schmancy name intimidate you. I did a couple of edits, because it's what I do and what was on-hand in the fridge and freezer. I did $plurge on the $moky Fontina chee$e, but use your fave semi-soft cheese!


1 lb          Ham Steak  (I had ham left-over in freezer OR buy diced ham in 8 oz pkgs)
1 T           Olive Oil
2 T           Butter
12             Extra-large Eggs (or regular sized, but add 1-2 more to make up)
1/2 C       Milk or half-n-half (I use Buttermillk)
8-10 oz   Fontina Cheese, shredded (2 cups; freeze the block first for easier shredding on your box shredder/grater)
S&P - Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Trim any connective tissue and all fat off ham. Mince or cut ham into very small bits and set aside
• Heat a 12" nonstick skillet with oven-safe handle over moderate heat. (If you're not sure the handle is oven-safe, double-wrap with aluminum foil.) Add oil & 1 T butter to coat sides and bottom of pan evenly. Add ham bits and saute 3 minutes or to brown and cookout some of the moisture.
• Whisk together eggs and your choice of "milk." Break-off tiny pieces of remaining 1 T butter and drop them into beaten eggs. Season eggs with a little S&P and whisk again to combine. Pour eggs into skillet over ham. Stir eggs gently to evenly distribute ham bits through out the egg mixture. As the eggs set, lift up bottom and side skin that's formed and allow uncooked eggs to settle. Keep doing this as eggs brown until the egg "pie" begins to set and take form. **Don't rush this step by adding extra heat, you'll scorch the bottom and ruin the whole thing.
• Transfer to the oven and cook 10 minutes, until golden on top.
• Add a generous layer of shredded Fontina cheese to the frittata and leave in oven another 3-5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and begins to bubble and lightly brown.
• Serve frittata in wedges directly from the skillet with a pie server!

Next time, the whole family is home for breakfast OR you get to have Breakfast-for-Dinner, try this! Then, waltz back, here, to let me know how your family considers you the supreme Chef of the World...while they can clean the dishes! ;}

~"Sam"