Homemade Vanilla Almond Granola

Homemade Vanilla Almond Granola

Ingredients:

non-stick spray

4 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup sliced almonds

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup applesauce

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Toppings: Golden Raisins, Dried Cranberries, Coconut Flakes

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Spray your baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment. Mix granola, salt, almonds, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl. Set aside. Combine applesauce, honey and sugar in small saucepan; bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and add in vanilla. Pour hot liquid over oat mixture; stir well until thoroughly mixed. Spread granola on baking sheet. Sprinkle with brown sugar and your toppings. Bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes (but check after 20). Transfer sheet to rack; cool granola completely. Keep in an air tight container like seen above!

I love granola mixed in with my greek yogurt and fruit. You could also use it as cereal or an afternoon snack! This granola is extra good because instead of oil I used applesauce!

Me and CL are off to go see Harry Potter and grab Panera for dinner with my mom! Hope you guys had an exciting weekend!

Pizza Party

Have you ever used BBQ sauce instead of marinara on pizza? If you haven't, hopefully I can convince you to with this recipe! 

Grilled BBQ Pork and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Ingredients:

Premade pizza dough 

1 vadallia onion

1 cup Italian blend cheese

1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

1 cup pre-cooked pulled pork (use chickpeas for a vegetarian option)

Additional veggies to top, we used red peppers!

2 tablespoons olive oil

Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Allow your dough to hang out in a bowl with a tablespoon of oil in a warm spot. This allows the dough to stretch out nicely. While that is resting, slice your onion thinly and cook for 20-30 minutes on low heat with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Spread out your pizza on aluminum foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and stretch until thin. Spread your favorite BBQ sauce on the dough and top with pork, onions, cheese and veggies. Grill for 20 minutes or until the crust is crispy.

For all of you vegetarians out there I suggest using black beans or chickpeas instead of the pork. You could also crumble a few TJ meat less meatballs on top!

Or you could make this delicious zucchini pizza.

Zucchini Pizza

Adapted and Modified from Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients:

Store bought pizza dough (I used TJ's garlic and herb)

1 cup part skim ricotta cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 large or 2 medium zucchinis grated

sprinkle of red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon olive oil

sun dried tomatoes or turkey bacon for added goodness

Directions:

Allow your dough to hang out in a bowl with a tablespoon of oil in a warm spot. This allows the dough to stretch out nicely. While that is resting, grate your zucchini. Spread out your pizza on aluminum foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and stretch until thin.Spread ricotta cheese on your dough thinly. Combine zucchini and mozzarella in a bowl and top pizza with the mixture. Add your sun dried tomatoes or turkey bacon and sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Grill for 20 minutes, or until crust is crunchy.

Hope you guys are enjoying your weekend! I took the dogs for a two mile walk today and grabbed some subway for lunch! I had to try out the newest topping... AVOCADO! :)

Sweet and Spicy

My body has been craving vegetarian meals lately and silly me, I have neglected that voice in my belly... until tonight. A black bean burger was on my mind since last night. Tonight, I romanced my taste buds with one of the best black bean burgers I have ever tasted.

Photo courtesy of the Eat, Live, Run who created this boyfriend-approved spicy black bean burger. 

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

Recipe courtesy of Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients:

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 T ground flax + 3 T water or 1 egg

1 jalapeno

2 cloves garlic

2 T tomato sauce

1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs

2 tsp cumin

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup corn (fresh or frozen and defrosted)

avocado for topping

olive oil (or canola oil) for frying burgers

Directions:

Seed and roughly chop jalapeno. Add it and the garlic cloves to a food processor (or high speed blender) and mince finely.

Add one can of beans to the jalapeno/garlic mixture and pulse to combine. Add cumin and salt and pulse until mixture resembles chunky black bean dip.

In a small bowl, mix together the ground flax and water. Let sit for five minutes. (this is an egg substitute)

Transfer the mixture in the food processor to a large bowl and stir in the bread crumbs, tomato sauce, flax and corn. Stir well until everything is combined. Add remaining black beans.

Heat a little olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Form black bean mixture into patties and fry for about 4 minutes per side, until golden and crusty brown.

I served my burger on a TJ multi grain sandwich slim with a healthy (humungo) side of ketchup. 

Along with a side of strawberry, almond and sunflower seed salad. Perfection. Sweet perfection to balance out my spicy burger.

It is so rare to go out to a restaurant and find a veggie burger that tastes half as good as this recipe. Seriously. Make this for any one of your friends or family who is a die hard meat lover. They will fall in love. 

PS. Thank you Alyssa for making this for your meat and potato boyfriend so I could copy cat this recipe! I am hooked!

You're Doing What?

Hi mom and seesstterrr! This post is mainly for you. Just to show you that although I haven't mucked a stall in awhile almost 10 years, I still know how to get down and dirty on the farm!

As you can see the horses are happy as clams and don't worry about all of that hay in the aisle, because yep, I swept that up too! Clean barn = happy barn!

I've also learned that boys love a girl who isn't afraid of some manure on the bottom of her boot! CL was lovin' the barn Cara and said I looked like a natural. ---> I'm sorry hunny, but I really did grow up on horses and I did ride for a long time. I just prefer 5 pound pets opposed to a 900 pound pet (the poop is a lot smaller).

He also told me we can never leave this place. I don't know if it was the money talking or the fumes of the horse dung, but he sure is in love with this place. I swear I heard him curse the horses this morning when he was up at 7 a.m. wheeling the manure wagon over to the trees... just kiddin'!

Apparently these horses want to be on America's Next Top Pony because the sound of a camera makes them freeze and pose (even with a bucket full of food at their feet). There is no horsin' around when it comes to business with these two! HA!

Don't worry Mom, sissy already called to check in on them yesterday and CL showed me your worried concerned loving texts!

We got it dude!

I'm sure all of you are just as surprised as my mom and sister that I did in fact grow up on a farm and can in fact manage without two horses without supervision. I'm joking Mom! haha 

What's something I don't know about you?

What I've Been Loving Lately

Here are a few things I have been loving lately...

This e.l.f all over color stick. I have the golden peach shade and I love adding it to my cheek bones for a summer glow. I also add it to my lips with some gloss over top for a shimmery nude look.

Being back in the country. I will always desire to live near the water, but for now being back at my parents and saving money to buy that dream house is what I am loving. Plus, having someone to eat dinner with {my momma} while CL is working is great! I didn't realize how much I missed that.

Having the weekend and space to run around with my pup. I ride my bike through the yard and fields while he chases me. If you ever need to tire out a pup this is the way to do it!

Taking showers at night and putting my hair in a braid to get no fuss waves in the morning. I wish I added this to my routine months ago!

Jillian Michaels Yoga DVD. I picked this up yesterday and tested it out before bed! I really like how she incorporated strength training with yoga using your own body weight. I will say the chaturanga dandasana push ups made me want to vomit...

 

My day planner. I finally picked up a new day planner after abandoning mine after college. I definitely need a reminder of vacations, birthdays and to-dos!

Signing up for another 5k on September 25th! It's for the St Jude's Childrens fund, which is a great reason to run and will give me an excuse to get back into my running shoes!

I named our group Team Boo-ty Call! If you are in the Maryland area you can register here.

I love my crockpot. Because tonight it is doing all the work for me so when I come home dinner is served. I just premade some meatballs (recipe, recipe) and covered with some TJ marinara.

What are you loving lately?

Holy Weekend Batman

Congratulations Jessica! You won the Food Should Taste Good giveaway! I used a random number generator and 33 was the winner! Email caramundy at gmail dot com where they should ship your prize and what 5 flavors you want!

Fun fact: 3 and 9 are my two favorite numbers. I picked them when I was 9 (hence the number) with my best friend Nikki at the time and it never changed. 33 is extra special because 3 x 3 = 9 (yes, this is proof I graduated the second grade).

Mediterranean Orzo Salad 

modified from A Healthy Passion's original Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

3 C water

1 C orzo

1/2 lemon juiced

1/3 cup Parmesan/Feta cheese

3 T olive oil

1 roma tomato diced or 5-6 grape tomatoes finely diced

1/4 C cucumber diced

1/4 C red bell pepper diced

1/2 tsp oregano dried

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 T fresh basil

1/4 c black olives (optional)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

salt (used garlic salt)

pepper

Directions: Bring water to boil in a medium pot, add orzo and cook for 9 minutes. Add a cold water afterwards to stop pasta from cooking. This also prevents the pasta from sticking. In the meantime, dice up veggies and add to a large bowl, mix in oil, lemon, and seasonings. Once orzo is cooked fluff with a fork and add to bowl, stir to combine and mix in Parmesan/Feta cheese and let sit for a few hours to allow flavors to combine before serving. Can be served hot, cold or room temp! I love this salad cold, which is perfect for a hot summer day like today!

This pasta salad was so light and easy to make! I am glad I remembered her recipe because it was perfect! I made this for dinner last night and it was even better for lunch today. This would be great to bring to a pot luck or summer picnic!

I also made some delicious pancakes for me and CL this morning. 

Cinnamon Apple Pancakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup TJ's buttermilk pancake mix (any mix should work fine)

1/3 cup water

2 heaping spoonfuls of vanilla or plain greek yogurt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 apple diced

1 egg white

Directions: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Spray hot pan with non-stick cooking spray and pray to the breakfast gods that they do not burn! Serve with sugar free syrup and enjoy!

I'm off to a family picnic to celebrate this little guy's 2nd birthday! Happy Birthday Noah!

Stuff Me Baby

mmmm just look at that melty cheesy goodness!!

Originally I had found a recipe for feta and spinach turkey burgers that I was dying to try... apparently that wasn't the only thing dying. My bag of spinach didn't make it during the move!

But, when you have lemons... make lemonade! So rather than pouting or running out to the store I rummaged through my packed fridge to see what I had on hand. 97% organic beef, lite mozzarella, grape tomatoes and garlic herb feta were found... and that my friends is when I came up with this mouth watering recipe! You are definitely going to want to make this!

What you need:
Ground beef of your choice - I used lean ground beef but ground chicken or turkey works!
1/2 cup diced grape tomatoes
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup feta - I used garlic herb flavored!
pepper for seasoning!

Grab a handful of your ground meat (I know raw meat is gross but this is topped with deliciousness!). Flatten it out and place about a spoonful of each the feta, mozzarella and tomatoes. 

 Roll into a ball so that the cheese and tomatoes are covered! Repeat until all your burgers are prepared and season them with the pepper.

Don't mind the other burgers in that photo... I know that the grill comes out about once a week so I made sure to utilize it tonight! Grill your burgers until they are the temperature you like and enjoy!

Top with whatever you want! I went simple and just used some lettuce from my grandmothers garden. Grilled onions would be bangin (yes I just used that word) on this burger!

When you cut it in half you get all of its melty goodness!

Friday at 10pm is the cut off for my Food Should Taste Good giveaway! So make sure you click this link or scroll down to the post to enter!

Old and New {WIAW}

I love summer for many reasons. I get a nice tan, natural highlights pop up in my hair, the beach, jet skiing, popsicles, pedicures, fresh garden veggies and sun dresses.

BUT

I sure do love the fall. I love skinny jeans in boots, I love oversized sweaters with belts, I love layering my clothes, I love the first weekend the leaves are all changing colors, pumpkin flavored everything and of course how the city lights up in purple for Ravens football.

Don't get me started on picking apples, wine tastings, carving pumpkins, bon fires and hay rides. There is nothing better than the fall to me. It is just so warm and inviting and when I do get to walk down the isle one day you better believe it will be in the fall.

Is it just me that daydreams about fall clothes and boots? Just me? Okay. Back to what i was originally going to write about.





I'll share some new photos of what I have been eating lately...

Lots of Food Should Taste Good Chips and Salsa

I clearly do not deck myself out in makeup at work. And I have been on a no hair dryer kick lately, braids = waves my friends!

 Todays breakfast. Cherries, a few golden raspberries and granola on top of a cup of peach yogurt.

 Sunday's Brunch. Sick Cara = Can actually sleep past 8! 2 eggs, half a nanner and a TJ sandwich thin with apricot preserves and a sprinkle of chia seeds.
 

Frozen Yogurt! Peanut Butter, Cappuccino, Cake Batter and Cheesecake with yogurt dots, heath bar and a few sour worms. I can never just choose one flavor!

Sorry for all of the iPhone pics... we just moved (more on that later) and my camera is somewhere in a box! I'll rescue it tommorow!

Now onto the old. I always am racking my brain on what to make for dinner. It is the one meal that me and Chris eat together and that I actually get to take my time making. Mornings I am always throwing things together before work, hence my yogurt breakfasts.

Looking back through my recipes I haven't made curry chicken in awhile! The good thing about blogging is whenever I am in a stump about what to make I can look back to old recipes or find new ones from other blogs! This recipe is simple, healthy and a crowd winner...

Curry Chicken:

Serves 4

1 to 1.5 pounds chicken breast, diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoon curry

1 tablespoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

1.5 containers non-fat greek yogurt

1 tablespoon lime juice

Directions:

Add all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Cook on medium high until chicken is fully cooked. Serve over rice.

 This recipe is great with shrimp as well! I love serving it one top of grilled onions!

Zucchini and Squash!

Indian feast! Whole wheat naan, homemade hummus, roasted cauliflower :-)

 So there you have it! Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips are going to send one of you 5 of your favorite flavor chips! Enter here!!

Food Should Taste Good GIVEAWAY

First, my melons are almost readddyyy! Fresh cantaloupe scream summer to me. Next year I would love to grow some watermelon too!

Who doesn't love a giveaway? Especially when it is something that is healthy AND delicious!

Food Should Taste Good recently contacted me and offered to send me FIVE (totally spoiled) bags of their chips AND I got to pick the flavors. Double Score. 

In case you aren’t familiar with their product... their all natural tortilla chips are made from real, simple ingredients. All of the chip varieties are free of cholesterol, preservatives and trans fat, and do not use genetically modified ingredients (GMOs). They are also certified Kosher and Gluten Free, lower in sodium, and are a good source of dietary fiber. 

They have 11 flavors: Multigrain, Sweet Potato, Olive, Jalapeño, The Works!, Chocolate, Lime, Blue Corn, Cheddar, Toasted Sesame, and White Cheddar. 

I chose sweet potato, olive, lime, blue corn and multigrain. I bet all of you are wondering about the chocolate flavor... I bet that would be great dipping into a bowl of chili. Rachel Ray is always adding cocoa powder to her chili recipes!

I have already gotten my hands into the sweet potato and it is amazing! After opening the bag you get the smell of sweet potato right away! Plus, the sodium is only 3% of your daily value and the fiber is 11%. Awesome. 

Looks like I will be making some summer salsa with these guys!

Here is the best part about it... the amazing people at Food Should Taste Good are sponsoring a giveaway so one of you can pick 5 of your favorite flavors to be sent to your house! Don't worry, if you don't win they have a $1 off coupon on their site so you can grab your hands on some of this goodness.

What flavor are you most interested in trying? Have you had Food Should Taste Good chips before?

How to Enter:
1. Like Food Should Taste Good's Facebook Page - click here.
2. Like Chic Meets Healthy on Facebook - click here.
3. Follow Chic Meets Healthy on Blogger (to the right)
4. Tweet about this giveaway - @caramundy is giving away FIVE Food Should Taste Good Chips - Enter Now! http://tinyurl.com/3bddrnv

** This contest is open until Friday at 10 pm where I will randomly select a number so leave a comment for each separate entry!! The winner will be announced through twitter, facebook and my blog where you will have a week to provide your name, address and which 5 flavors you want Food Should Taste Good to send you!  

Open to Us Residents Only

Beach Wrap-up and WIAW

Better late than never! Here are some of the things I ate, saw and did while at the beach!




I definitely am looking in closely to opening up a frozen yogurt shop at the beach and possibly a veggie grill where people can have healthy options while at the beach. They are so hard to find! I bet a lot of people would appreciate having vegetarian options and fast healthy food they could grab while taking a break from the beach! French fries and ice cream are delicious, but they are not flattering for my bikini!

Next time I visit I will set my alarm for a sunrise photo opp. Bed > Waking up early while on vacation!

 Dumsers Ice Cream: Butter Pecan... nice and drippy (note, if anyone would like to give me a manicure it would be much appreciated)

Sangria was consumed every night, a summer fav!

Went jet skiing with the fam!

Rode lots of waves (and knocked down by plenty)

Big bowl of fruit CL brought me for breakfast! The melon was out of this world!

Laying out by the pool

Ferris wheel rides

Lots of maxi dresses were brought!

We found a frozen yogurt shop right next to our condo... sadly, it was nothing special

Crabs and Beer... that's what Maryland is all about (and the Ravens!)

Sunset photos (I took one each night!)