Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Bring a Friend!!

Every time you come to class, you get to put your name on a raffle ticket. The more times you come to class the more chances you have of winning a prize at the end of the month! You can win any of these items!

For every friend you bring to class you will get 5 extra tickets!! If you like my Facebook page or follow my health/fitness blog you get 1 extra ticket! If any one of your friends that you bring to class signs up for the whole month YOU get a free Zumba T-shirt! (one of the ones shown below)

So get your friends off their bum and bring them to Zumba!!

Dairy-Free Fruit Popsicles


I am not sure what has gotten into me lately, but I have been on a roll branching out and using new recipes. Maybe it's the heat that is putting me in such an adventurous mood. So while I was cleaning out the cupboard (apart from being in an adventurous mood in the kitchen, I've been in an organizing frenzy in the kitchen too) I came across our Popsicle molds that we bought a long time ago and never really used them. So I went online and looked for a recipe for dairy free fruit Popsicles and came across this recipe. But since I didn't have carrots or almond butter, I decided to use what I had on hand. Can you believe it only took 3 ingredients!?
   And the end result was Delicious! Even the Hubby loved them! If you are worried about it tasting like coconut, don't worry it doesn't really taste like anything but creamy goodness. Even the Hubby couldn't tell it was coconut milk, and he HATES anything with coconut in it, he literally won't touch anything that has coconut in it, until now!
So this is what I did:

Ingredients:
  • 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk (look for it at your local health food store OR at your local supermarket in the Asian food isle, usually on the bottom shelf)
  • honey or any other sweetener to taste
  • fresh or frozen fruit

This is the kind of coconut milk I used. I didn't have any fresh fruit on hand so I used some frozen fruit that I hand.


Open your can of coconut milk and using a spatula put it in a bowl. Don't worry it's supposed to be separated.


Using a whisk mix it together only until it is fully mixed, don't over mix otherwise you will end up with whipped cream. At this time add your sweetener. Keep adding according to your taste. Then add however much fruit you want.


I added some fruit into the empty container before I poured the mixture into the container. I used a ladle to spoon it in. Beware this can get messy, or at least for me it was.



I love the swirls it created! Now place in your freezer for 30 minutes before you stick your Popsicle stick in. Now just wait a few hours until they are all frozen. To get them out of the molds just run warm water over the molds for a few seconds and then you are set to eat!



And the end result is a deliciously creamy treat that has absolutely NO DAIRY and is super easy to make!


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Spaghetti Squash with Peas & Chicken



I had never eaten spaghetti squash before let alone cook it. And I'm glad I tried it! It was really quick and easy. It took me about 40 minutes to make this. I used things that I had on hand, including the spaghetti squash from our garden. I got the idea to make this from here, I recommend watching the video if you have never cooked spaghetti squash before, it really helped me a lot!

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium spaghetti squash
  • 1 cup peas (I only had frozen peas on hand, but you can use any vegetable you have)
  • 1 boneless chicken breast (thawed and cooked)
Cut the squash in half length wise and using a spoon, scoop out all the seeds. Then place them face down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Put it in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until a knife can be easily poked through. Meanwhile cook the peas or vegetable the way you like and cook your chicken the way you want, I grilled mine :). After the chicken is cooked cut it up into small pieces and set aside. When the squash is done take it out of the oven and (with an oven mitt in one hand hold the squash) using a fork, scrape the flesh out and put in a bowl. Then toss the chicken and peas in with the squash, and serve!

makes about 4 servings.