All in Healthy Eats

FRANKENSTEIN TOAST: A Frightfully Fun and Healthy Halloween Meal!

Fact #1 about me: I'm a Halloween Psycho! I love everything Halloween. It's beyond obsession at this point. It's more like neurosis. Halloween is all year round in my head. I need serious help. Now don't misunderstand me, I don't want help. I don't want a cure. I'm totally cool with it.

When I met Jay, he didn't like Halloween. It was almost a deal breaker. I mean, how the hell do you not like Halloween? I get it if you don't love it or don't participate in it once you're an adult, but to not like it? This shit is unacceptable. Since I was madly in love with this Halloween hating weirdo, I had only one choice. I had to shove Halloween so far down his throat that he'd eventually swallow it. Oh and did I ever. I poured it all over his life. Every year I forced him to start dressing up, I decorated our house like it was a scene right out of Halloweentown, and I coerced him into watching Hocus Pocus with me every season while we carved pumpkins. Nine years ago we even started an annual Halloween adult scavenger hunt for our entire community. 

Can I just say that I do realize that this poor bastard deserves awards for handing my ass all these years? But I'm proud to say that after 17 years, he's officially a fan! And when he saw this Frankenstein chicken salad toast, even he was excited about eating! ...

AVOCADO & GRAPE CHICKEN SALAD

Hear me now... You need to make this shit! OMG it is amazing! I can't stop. 

I (and now you) have my 12 year old daughter, Gia, to thank for this dish. You see, for some reason Gia has been obsessed with avocados lately. I've been buying the big bags of them at Sam's Club to keep up with her habit so every time I go into the kitchen they're staring at me. I have to admit Gia's recent bout with them has stirred a mini-obsession of my own. I had forgotten how much I loved them. My nine year old can take them or leave them and Jay has flat out refused to even try a taste of one for the past 17 years. Let me tell you, the hubs has come along way since I switched to a healthy lifestyle eight years ago. He has given lots of dishes a try. Even ones with vegetables in them! But he has a threshold. Apparently the avocado is where shit stops for him. He says he doesn't like the look of it. I like to remind him that a package of Angus ground beef looks like a pile of brains, yet he'll knock over toddlers and the elderly to get to a big juicy burger. Okay, maybe he wouldn't go that far. Maybe. It would depend if he skipped lunch or not.

I have learned to not push him to try foods. Wait, actually, that is not true. I just re-read that first sentence and honestly laughed out loud! Then I was going to take it out and thought screw it, I'm leaving it in, haha! Let me edit that first sentence without removing it. The correct way to say it would be this... 

VEGGIE BEEF STEW: A Healthy Crockpot Comfort Food

Here in the Northeast we have Indian Summers every September. It's always so nice. I love everything about the Fall except the cold weather. So when Mother Nature gives us one last jolt of hot weather I make sure that I soak it all in. I relish it because I know in just a few short weeks, I'll be packing away all my summer clothes and getting all of my hoodies out while I whimper and bitch... for the next five months. Yes, I'll admit it. I'm one of those people who constantly complain about the cold weather. But I have to say, I'm not one of those people who complain about the weather for each season. I never complain about the heat. I love the heat! The hotter the better. I'm talking even those humid days that everyone hates. I love those days! I know I'm weird. But it can't be too hot or too humid for me. I always joke and say I'm meant to live on the Equator. When everyone else is actually melting into their very own skin puddle, I'm rejoicing! Omg I love it. I know I'm a mental case but I can't help it.

I actually wasn't always like this. It's just been since my weight loss journey. After I lost 120 pounds, I all of a sudden found ...

PUMPKIN PIE CHIA PUDDING

Today I am presenting to you an absolutely scrumptious Pumpkin Pie Chia Seed Pudding! Yes, I know I just posted a recipe for chia seed pudding a few weeks ago. But that was Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding... this is very different! You wanna know why it's so different. I'll tell ya why.

BECAUSE PUMPKIN SPICE! That's why!

I look forward all year to when there's pumpkin spice everything! Oh hell yeah. Mama can't get enough. I know there's enough of you pumpkin freaks out there to feel me on this. My husband thinks I'm insane. He doesn't jump on the pumpkin spice bandwagon in the Fall, or ever. He won't turn down a piece of pumpkin pie, I'll say that, but anything else? Nope. He's not a fan. I know, I don't understand it either. It's a huge flaw on an otherwise perfect husband. It's a good thing I love him so much and that he scores mostly A's in the spousal department. Because his big fat F minus with the No-Love-For-Pumpkin-Stuff could really eff up his GPA if he wasn't such a good hubby. 

So let me tell you why my pumpkin spice naysayer of a husband loves my newest chia seed recipe. It tastes like the one and only pumpkin food he loves!

PUMPKIN PIE, BITCHES!

Oh that's right. You heard me. This pudding is like eating the inside of a pumpkin pie. The best part? It's healthy! And I'm not talkin' a little bit healthy. I'm talkin' a whole lot healthy! 

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

These magical squares taste like the inside of a Reese's Cup without having any Reese's Cups in them. This is a healthy version of fudge and it won't throw you off your diet (well, you can't eat the entire effing pan). I could go on and on about how delicious this stuff is, but we all know what the inside of a Reese's Cup taste like so I'm gonna keep this simple. Here's the dealio...

PUMPKIN CHILI

You will knock your family’s socks off with this recipe! The added pumpkin gives this chili an incredible flavor and it’ll end up being a meal you crave on every chilly fall and winter evening! And don’t worry, the pumpkin is very subtle. Even my husband who hates pumpkin anything (I know, he’s a total freakin weirdo) loved this. I didn’t tell him there was any pumpkin in it and he didn’t even know, hehe.

PROTEIN GUMMIES: Only 3 Ingredients!

The fruit snacks you buy in the store are loaded with chemicals, preservatives, and fruit 'flavors'. These gummies are straight up goodness. You are using REAL fruit. No fake flavorings, no chemicals, no nonsense. These snacks are something you can be proud to give your little ones, if you don't eat all of them first…