Steel Cut Oatmeal

A delicious and quick Steel cut oats (that your kids will love too): Mix unsweetened vanilla almond milk with your favorite steel cut oats in the microwave or stovetop (@courtneyzwick turned me onto Country Choice Organic which is now my favorite -it’s what they use at Jamba Juice) Mix in more almond milk to get desired consistency A dash of kosher salt Maple syrup And a little bit of butter Top with TJ pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds 

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Tomato soup with cornbread croutons and jalapeño cream sauce

Fall food at it’s best: Tomato soup with cornbread croutons and jalapeño cream sauce and an open faced pastrami melt. Tomato soup- Roast (on the Traeger or oven) tomatoes, peppers, mirapeaux (already chopped TJ mix is the best), drizzled with EVOO and a lot of s&p. After they’re cooked through, blend roasted ingredients in a blender with a can or two of fire roasted diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, vegetable broth (if you need to thin it out) and boxed tomato soup (if you want to add more volume). I leave it slightly chunky so blend to your desired consistency.   Cornbread croutons- cube and toast store bought cornbread (freeze what you don’t use)   Jalapeño cream sauce- in a blender, combine roasted jalapeños that have been deseeded and sour cream.     Pastrami melt- toast wheat sourdough bread Layer-mustard, pastrami, low fat Swiss cheese and Trader Joes sauerkraut with Persian pickles (the best out there)

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Apple Maple Yogurt Parfaits

Pick your favorite- (Amounts will vary depending on number of serving and desired sweetness) Greek Yogurt Apples Granola Cinnamon Fresh nutmeg Brown Sugar Maple Syrup Trader Joes Pumpkin Spiced pumpkin seeds Mix cinnamon and fresh nutmeg in with your favorite kind of plain or vanilla greek yogurt. Set aside Chop apples into bite size pieces and sauté with brown sugar and Maple syrup. Let cool Layer cinnamon yogurt, apples, and granola until glass is full. Top with Trader Joes Pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of maple syrup. Enjoy!

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Kicked Up Sloppy Joe Peppers

On this blustery cold day, kicked up sloppy joes sounded perfect. These low carb versions won’t hurt your waistline either! Don’t get too used to getting a list of ingredients. 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined and diced 1 red onion, diced 1 carton diced mushrooms 2 pounds extra lean ground beef 2 tablespoons minced garlic 3 tb red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon paprika 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 6 -ounce can tomato paste 1 cup tomato sauce 1 can diced tomatoes 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar 2 tb Worcestershire sauce Heat canola oil in large sauté pan. Saute peppers and onions for about 5 minutes then add ground beef, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook through. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 45 minutes or so. Core yellow or red peppers and add sloppy joe mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

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Chia Pudding

There is no right and wrong with Chia Seed Pudding. Be creative and make it your own. Here are a couple of my favorites! Chia seeds Your favorite milk (almond or coconut) Your favorite yogurt Vanilla extract Maple syrup Salt Fall chia pudding- Canned Pumpkin, dash of cinnamon, dash of fresh nutmeg Toppings- be creative! You’ll want to use 1/4 cup chia seeds per every 1 cup of yogurt and 1 cup milk. I throw it all in and never measure it out so you really can’t go wrong. Add a dash of salt, a tsp of vanilla, and about 2 Tb or as much maple syrup as you like. For the pumpkin pudding add a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1 to 2 Tb of canned pumpkin. The pumpkin isn’t that sweet so I would also add more maple syrup. Cover and refrigerate mixture for a couple of hours or overnight. Add any toppings you like. Some of my favorites are pumpkin seeds, pomegranate seeds, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and coconut. The possibilities are endless!

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Dried Apricot, Goat Cheese, and almond appetizer

I stole this idea from one of my favorite caterers. It is one of my favorite light, EASY appetizers that has great flavors but won’t fill you up. Layer- Dried apricots Cinnamon cranberry goat cheese (or your favorite flavor) Almond (I used honey roasted vanilla but salty/smokehouse would be good too) Honey (I’m lucky and my fabulous neighbors are beekeepers so we have real “local” honey!) Bon appetite!  

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