Creating healthy foods with some really amazing children

 My new clients Brayden and Kayla

I can't even express how blessed  I feel to have met their mother Kate at my work one day and very quickly we became very good friends all over talking about nutrition and our faith. Kate is an amazing woman who I truly admire for what a good person and mother she is!  She is truly an angel who is so kind and so loving! She wanted help with getting her children to get more involved in the kitchen cooking healthier snacks and creating nutritious meals at dinner time. One of Kate's issues was not having time after work to prepare a healthy meal for the family and not knowing what to make that the whole family would like. I was so excited to tell Kate that I would totally be up to helping her and her kids to get cooking some really tasty healthy meals. I met her beautiful children and instantly felt a connection to them. We had so much fun cooking and creating together!! Kate the mother was so pleased to see her kids having fun chopping vegetables sauteing and preparing a lasagna and salad for their family to enjoy for dinner. When dad  got home from a long day at work to come home to a happy family with dinner in the oven a happy mom and excited kids, he had  such a look of peace. Kate told me she never even has time to set and actually eat with the family because she is so busy cleaning up and getting everything organized. I felt bad to hear that and I am  doing my very best to train the children to help clean as they cook so the kitchen isn't a big mess that no one wants to even try to clean up. Cleaning as you go, washing pots, rinsing dishes and loading the dishwasher before dinner can actually create a calmer dinner time. This family is truly special to me, I am so thankful to heart that they are enjoying the recipes from my cook book and getting excited to help prep and prepare meals that are really good for them. So far we have made lasagna, salad, smoothies, granola yogurt cups and zucchini grilled cheese. Our next task is going to be my famous salsa chicken and my veggie vegan brownies. For any of you who are struggling with finding the time to create healthy meals and having trouble getting their children to eat their vegetables then I am you girl. I can help and I actually love to teach families of how easy and how tasty it can be to eat clean and healthy. It is pretty cool how God puts the right people into your path at the right time. This family has blessed me because I am getting to share my passion in a way that is providing some useful tools to help them. I have made some new friends that have touched my life in a very special way!!

Kayle doesn't actually like vegetables too much yet it was pretty funny because Kate her mom told me of how Kayle wasn't sure she would like the lasagna that was packed with veggies. When she served her self a big slice and enjoyed all of it Kate was pretty happy about that!!

Both Brayden and Kayle love smoothies so making some smoothies and freezing them for the week got them pretty excited!! It's cool to look into your freezer and find treats that are actually good for you and they taste amazing!!

Getting your kids helping with meal time is the best thing you can do! It helps you and it teaches them some really valuable life tools that they will use their whole life.

2 cups of oats
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 cup of slivered almonds
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
measure in a bowl 

 in a pot heat
3 tbsp of honey
3 tbsp of coconut oil
1 tsp of vanilla 
pour over dry ingredients

spread on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes at 325
cool and store into containers
make your own yogurt cups
pomegranate seeds on the bottom or berreis
Greek yogurt and then in a sepearte container fill with your granola for the perfect snack.
Kids love creating their own snacks especially this one!

Ginger Snap Cookies

This recipe can be modified
by using vegan butter instead of regular butter, you can also use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar.
For vegan option use 1 tbsp of ground flax mixed with 2 tbsp of warm water stir together to create a binder.
Gluten free four blend can be used  instead of wheat flour.

This recipe has been a true family favorite in my house. When we make these cookies they tend to get eaten up pretty quickly so make sure to double the recipe so you have some extras to give to your family and friends. Just don't be surprised if they keep asking you to make more.
They really are so good!!!   


2 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 tsp of soda
1 tsp of ginger
1 tsp of cloves
1/4 tsp of salt

sift dry ingredients together 

3/4 cup of butter softened
1/4 cup of molasses
1 cup of brown sugar or coconut sugar 

in a mixer blend wet ingredients

slowly add dry ingredients, continue blending until well incorporated

Preheat oven to 350
Scoop 2 tbsp full of cookie dough, roll into balls, place on a greased  cookie sheet, bake for 10 minutes.

Cream cheese icing
with a hand held mixer blend together
1/2 cup of cream cheese softened
2 1/2 cups of icing sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tbsp of milk
blend until smooth and creamy

Indian Cooking Class with a great group of girls

One of the many things I love about doing cooking classes is the wonderful people you get to meet and connect with. I am so blessed to have met this great group of ladies who truly know how to have a good time. As I am doing my cooking demo I actually forget that I have been hired to come and teach an Indian cooking because of how much fun I am having as if I am just one of the friends laughing and sharing as woman like to do. I like to make my classes personal and fun and with this group it sure was easy for that!! If you are interested in hosting a cooking class in the comfort of your own home with your girl friends for an evening of learning, enjoying samples and having fun all together talking about all kinds of life topics then I am your girl. I believe it is so much more then food when doing a cooking class it is a way to touch someones life and have them touch your just by being real and showing you care about them.

This group of girls has been truly been a blessing to me.

for a party of at least 5 at 30 dollars per person I will provide a 3 course meal using recipes and flavors from around the world. You pick your favorite kind of food and  theme and I will teach you how to create it in the comfort of your own home using lots of healthy ingredients. 




We made Butter Chicken Vegetable Samosas and Chai coconut ice cream for dessert

               blend 1 Tsp of Chai tea powder with 1 small tub of coconut ice cream, blend with a blender.

Wake up with energy Andrea's perfect bowl of oatmeal

Start your day out with some energizing healthy ingredients. Oatmeal is very good for you, especially for your heart and your brain! Oats also provide lots of fiber to help keep you full. Fresh fruit is always good to have at the start of your day to provide energy. Almonds are full of Vitamin E and D they make for a nice texture as well on top of your oatmeal. The perfect bowl of oatmeal is all about adding textures and building on flavors. Try adding a different flavored yogurt to your oatmeal as well as different kinds of fruits like pomegranate seeds. Pomegranates are not only full of antioxidants they are super flavorful, a little  tart and sweet at the same time. 

Andrea's perfect oatmeal
1 bowl of oatmeal
1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt
3 tbsp of almonds
1/4 cup of pomegranate seeds
1 tbsp of ground flax

My dream come ture video with Olive

 This video is a dream come true! I have many visions and dreams for my career and having a video shoot to promote my book was one of them.  I wanted to thank this sweet little girl Olive for being  a part of this video with me!! I have had the blessing of knowing Olive from where I used to work as a Kindergarten Chef. I always knew there was something really special about Olive, every time I would cook with the children and do little Chefs she just seemed to have this natural gift with cooking. I wanted to create my cook book for children to create memories in the kitchen cooking like I did growing up. I want to thank Pollux for filming this video and for capturing some really speical moments with Olive at the market. Thank you to Hamilton Farms for letting us shoot this video, picking produce and flowers was so much fun! This was a very special day in my life. I feel so blessed to share my heart and story with all of you!



For those interested in purchasing my cook book in hard copy it goes for 30 dollars
For PDF file recipes sent to you by email 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaEbuh689t8

Veggie Lasagna made in minutes

Vegetable packed lasagna
step 1
dice vegetables, zucchini, pepper, onion, egg plant, season with salt and pepper and saute in a pan with a little vegetable oil. Saute for about 5 minutes.
Step 2
bring large pot of boiling water to a boil, boil pasta according to package. Strain and rinse under water to remove the starch.

Step 3 layer vegetables and noodles with your favorite tomato sauce as well as  mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a little Italian seasoning over top with some salt and pepper.


Step 4 bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes

 

Sunday School Cooking Making Yummy Salad and Dressing

Today making salad with the little ones was pretty cute!!

As they walk in you can see they are trying to figure it out what we are going to make together. When  I told them we were going to be making salad and dressing some of them got excited, maybe that's because I said it in a really exciting voice, and some didn't buy it lol. There is always one in the group who doesn't really like anything and they don't hold back on telling you that lol. Most of the children were actually really happy tearing their lettuce picking out their favorite vegetables and  preparing the dressing. The little comments are so sweet! I love hearing of all the vegetables they like and don't like, I always say just try it once and if you don't like it it's okay we don't all like the same things and it's good not to push them to like something if they really don't. I started making the dressing and asked them all where honey comes from they all said all at once from bees with excitement! I asked them if they wanted to try the honey, they all did so on each little finger I dotted a little honey and asked them what they thought. The children all replied "That's yummy" Then I wanted them to try sour too from the lemon so they tried the lemon and with funny faces they said "That's so sour." Then they tried the sea salt, they seemed to all really like the salt lol. I showed them where the pumpkin seeds came from with a little pumpkin. We used the seeds to sprinkle on top of the salad, they really liked that! Each child then poured some olive oil into the jar and the rest of our ingredients to make our dressing. I blended it all up and poured over their cute little salad plates for them to try. The kids all clapped and said yay!! I love seeing kids start off saying no to eating vegetables and at the end smiling and enjoying their salads and healthy creations. To me it's not what you make with kids that matters as much as how much fun you make it. I want children to have good memories around vegetables not ones of being pressured to eat something they don't like. At the end of the day if they make it, trust me they will probably like it even if it is a salad and not chocolate cookies. The message on the bottom of the recipe is  to tie in with the honey from the dressing from one my favorite verses because it is so true.
Gods word is so full and so satisfying like honey.
Our kind pure words towards others are as well sweeter then honey when said from the heart!


"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter then honey to my mouth!"
Psalm 119:103

Honey Dijon Dressing
1/4 cup of dijon mustard
1/2 cup of honey
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp of fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
1 tsp of minced garlic
Blend with a hand held blender and store in a mason jar

Salad
1 bunch of kale chopped
1 bunch of spinach leaves
1/2 a cucumber diced small
1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
1 carrot grated
1/4 cup of grated purple cabbage
1 cup of diced cherry tomatoes 

Toss altogether and enjoy!