shanna's eats: fresh tzatziki pizza

One of my cravings this pregnancy has been tzatziki - I absolutely can not get enough of it. I could eat it first thing in the morning as I was getting out of bed if I thought it was socially acceptable! One of my go-to snacks or a light lunch is a fresh tzatziki pizza. Not only do I love love love this pizza but so do the kids. It is quick and easy and tastes even better when you can use the veggies growing in your garden. This is a great opportunity to teach your children about harvesting their on veggies and then making a scrumptious meal to fill their bellies.

This pizza is simply naan bread toasted with tzatziki and topped with Lebanese cucumbers, red peppers, cherry tomatoes and a little fresh ground pepper and sea salt. I like to add crumbled feta cheese on top but did not have any on hand the day I made this bad boy. I especially love this meal as it does not require any cooking time, the veggies are uncooked providing us with as many nutrients as possible and it's just pretty to look at.

Give this one a try and I know you will not be disappointed!

Happy Eating!!!

shanna's eats: roasted beets and corn

Whenever I ask others if they like beets, the response I usually get is the same... they either love the vibrant veggie or hate it. I love love love beets and I love the fact these colourful little balls are nutritious, full of vitamins, fiber and antioxidants.

In the summer months, I love pulling fresh beets from the garden and picking up a few cobs of corn to hurry home and make one of my favourite side dishes. I preheat my oven at 400 and roast beets (peeled and sliced) and corn in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil for about 40 minutes. Once done, I toss with a dash of sea salt and black pepper then finish off with chopped fresh parsley on top. I like to eat this dish warm but it also tastes mighty fine cold. Lately, I have been craving this tasty combo and find it is the perfect lunch when I am not too hungry. Right, now I can't hit up the local farmer's market, so I just use frozen corn. I cut up some pita bread, toast it with a little extra virgin olive oil and rosemary and voila I am set for lunch.

shanna's eats: jazzed up spinach salad

I have received a lot of requests from friends, family and some of my awesome followers who are expecting asking what I like to fill my belly with when I am pregnant. I have to start off by saying this pregnancy did not allow me to eat a whole lot during the first three months, but now that I am slowly getting my appetite back which makes me one happy girl who loves me some good ol' food. One goal our family and I always try our best to stick to is trying to eat healthy and clean but that's not to say we don't enjoy our occasional take-out.

So, without further ado, here is one of my favourite go-to dishes these days - jazzed up spinach salad. This salad is perfect for lunch and if I am planning on serving it for dinner I add a grilled chicken breast and voila!  I have made several of these babies and these toppings seem to fit together just right.

Shanna's Jazzed Up Spinach Salad- Serves 2 portions
- 1 bunch of fresh spinach ( make sure you clean well)
- 2 Lebanese cucumbers
- 1 apple (I like Macintosh or Golden Delicious)
- Handful of strawberries
- Handful of sunflower seeds
- Handful of walnuts
- 1/2 cup of Feta cheese, crumbled
- Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil
- Top with 1-2 grilled chicken breasts (Optional)

chocolate chip cookie dough recipe

Sorry, the pic is a little blurry but I was just so excited to dig in, I couldn't get a good pic.

You may remember a few weeks back when I had a girls' night to watch the Bachelorette and told you all about filling our bellies with some goodies. One of those goodies was a chocolate chip cookie dough dip with cookies. I have had several requests for me to share the recipe with all of you. I love me some sweet stuff and this recipe did not disappoint. I went on the hunt for the perfect recipe and good ol' Pinterest pulled through as I found this recipe over at thewaytohisheart . I didn't seem to be the only one who thought it was quite yummy as there were plenty of times in the days following after our girls night I walked into the kitchen to see someone dipping into it. Animal crackers were a great choice to use to scoop up all that creamy goodness. Next time you are having a girls' night in, give this recipe a try. This is definitely a sweet treat and probably not the best choice if you are trying to eat healthy but hey, every now and then it's okay to spoil yourself.

Ingredients 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 8-ounce block of cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, plus extra for sprinkling (I used the normal sized chips)

Directions

• In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
• Whisk in the brown sugar until it dissolves and the mixture starts to bubble. Stir in vanilla and set aside to cool.
• In a separate bowl, cream the cream cheese and powdered sugar together for 60 seconds.
• With the mixer on low speed, add in brown sugar and butter mixture, then the salt. Mix until combined. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.
• Garnish with additional mini chocolate chips. Serve with animal crackers, Nilla wafers, or graham crackers. I found that this tasted better the colder it got.

radish chips recipe

Are you looking for a new salad topper or are you trying to find a new way to sneak some veggies into that picky eater you may have? Radishes are the perfect choice! One of Little Miss L.'s favourite treats to make are radish chips. She loves eating them on their own as a snack but we both love topping our salads with them as well. At times, it can be hard to get the little one to eat her radishes fresh, but baking these beauties takes away that harsh, peppery taste. Give them a try the next time you want to explore an alternative option to eating them fresh.

Ingredients

• Large bunch of radishes
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of fresh herbs ( I like to use rosemary or oregano) There have been several times when I did not have fresh herbs on hand, dried herbs work just as well.
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and black pepper

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 160 celsius. 
• Thinly slice radishes. 
• In bowl, toss radishes with oil, herbs, salt and pepper.
• Line in a single layer on parchment paper, place on baking sheet.
• Place on middle rack of oven for 15 minutes. Turn radishes over and back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes until they are golden and crisp.
• Let cool, and enjoy!

Time to get cutting.

Time for the oven. Note: this time I omitted the herbs on Little Miss L.'s request.

Little Miss L. making the final inspection.

Look they are done!

Humm, which one will I chose?

Time for my snack (and it's healthy too!)

These sure are yummy!

The final product. 

salted caramel popcorn

If you are anything like our family, you have a ton of chocolates and candies filling your pantry after the arrival of the Easter Bunny this past weekend. The hubby and I are huge fans of snacks that are both salty and sweet. Little Miss L. and I decided to gather some of our goodies and surprise daddy with a sweet treat when he arrived home from work the other night. The world wide web, what would we do without you? After a quick search on the net, I came across the perfect recipe for our little project (you can check it out here) I followed the recipe except I did not have chocolate covered pretzel m&m's on hand, so we went with the plain m&m's and added some other candy covered chocolates. The final product turned out just how we expected, it was a great savoury treat for the whole family to enjoy...

Pretzels, m&m's, and candy covered chocolate.

We love our popcorn machine we received this past Christmas. It popped the perfect popcorn for our treat.

I love love love watching Little Miss L.'s reaction when the popcorn pops and she thinks it is going to get her.

She thinks this contraption is absolutely hilarious. 

Little Miss L.  preparing the pretzels.

Getting the caramel ready.

Looking good.

The final product.

This treat is hard to walk away from... truly worth the effort to make.

2 minute microwave play dough

Are you looking for a fast and easy play dough recipe? Look no further, I was sent this link where this awesome recipe was shared by one of their readers. I love love loved this recipe, there was little mess, the kiddos were able to help, and the whole process was done in two minutes. I have made play dough before, but it required using the stove and took much longer. After using this recipe, who would want to stand over a stove making play dough again? Not this busy momma!

Ingredients

1 c flour
1 Tbsp cream of tartar
1/2 c salt
1 Tbsp oil
1 c water
Food colouring


Directions

Combine first 4 ingredients together; mix food colouring with the water and add to flour mixture.  Microwave 1 minute on high; stir and microwave again for 1 minute.  Stir and let sit until cool enough to handle.  Knead well.


I have also added cool stuff like coffee grounds, extracts, cinnamon, ginger or glitter ... just for fun.  

Let the fun begin.

Time to add the oil.

Little Miss L. picked purple because she said it was an Easter colour. 

Baby D loves watching his big sister.

The final product. I did double the batch, so I decided to leave it in the microwave for a few seconds longer but now realize I probably didn't have too - I may have cooked it a little too long.

Time to try out our play dough.

Baby D gets in on the action too.

Big sister doing what she does best - bugging her little brother.

My poor boy can't catch a break when his sister is around.

Little Miss L. made necklaces and bracelets for everyone.

I think someone likes the play dough she just made?!?!

friday night = pizza night

I love love love pizza! There are just so many possibilities when it comes to pizza - thin crust, thick crust, veggies, meat.. oh the list goes on. It seems in our household we have started a weekly tradition. Friday nights, our family has taken up family pizza night. We love pizza night, especially Little Miss L. because she gets to help out in the kitchen. It provides the perfect opportunity for the little one to get creative and create her very own pizza masterpiece. The end of the week, the fridge usually has a few leftover items we need to use up, and what better way to use them then on a homemade pizza.

Last Friday we were debating what to top our pizza with, when I remembered our trip to Venice, Italy. I remember entering a cute little pizzaria and sitting down to look through the menu. They had a billion - okay, more like fifty - different kinds of pizza to choose from. As I was scanning the menu, my eyes seemed to stop on a certain pizza... I had to look a few times... did I read this right... french fry pizza? Oh, my mouth started to water, two of my favourite things put together - I knew I had to try this pizza. Did I like it? Well, let's just say that I ate every last bite of it. Our debate last Friday night over toppings came to a quick close and I made the final decision - french fry pizza it was (of course, this momma made sure we had a healthy alternative as well.) Little Miss L. thought it was the coolest thing ever and it brought back some wonderful memories of our time spent in an amazing place.

Our scrumptious french fry pizza in Venice, Italy.

I was one happy girl.

Our attempt at the french fry pizza.

Little Miss L.'s expression was priceless - Do I pick the fries off or leave them on the pizza to eat it momma?

Yum, I love this pizza!

Here is the proof folks - we made sure we had lots of veggies too!

no bake haystacks

Little Miss L. loves helping out in the kitchen. I love watching her face as her daddy walks in the door after work and she is all giddy as she tells him all about what she said made that day. As most of you know, it is hard to find a recipe that captures a two year old's interest, does not take too long to make (as we all know their attention span is quite short at this age), and does not require too many utensils and bowls etc. One recipe that I always turn to, is a no-bake haystack recipe. It is fast, easy, and Little Miss L. loves getting her hands all gooey. Give it a try, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder (I love cocoa so I use lots but 1/3 cup is enough)
• 3 cups quick cooking oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup Flax seed
• 1/3 cup Hemp hearts
• 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla extract

Preparations

• In a large saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa powder; bring to a boil.
• Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
• Drop from a teaspoon or I like to use my hands to place onto waxed paper.
• Hint - work quickly as mixture hardens fast.
• Place in refrigerator. 

Someone loves to lick the spoon.

The finished product. In the preparation, I suggested to place on waxed paper, well if you are like me and ran out, just lightly spray on some non-stick cooking spray to your cookie sheet.

Yum, I love tasting my creations.

I will lick every last bit off of my hand.

My little helper.

Time to dig into the final product.

I asked Little Miss L. how they tasted and this was her reaction. She rubbed her belly and told me it was yummy in her tummy.

Little Miss L. loves haystacks as her afternoon snack.

They are finger-lickin' good