Lime Rice with Cilantro

1 cup basmati rice

1 1/2 tbs of butter

1 lime

1 1/2 cup of water

1 handful of chopped cilantro

Gently heat the butter in a medium pot. Once the butter has melted, add the juice from the lime. Stir in the rice and let cook for 1 minute. Add the water and let cook for 12 minutes on a medium boil, stirring occasionally. When the rice is finished cooking, fluff with a fork and stir in cilantro.

Red Velvet Cupcakes...yummy!

• Cupcakes
• 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 heaping tsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbs red food coloring
• 1 tsp white distilled vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing

1/2 lb of cream cheese

1 stick of butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla 

2 cups of confections sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F) and line cupcake sheets with liners. This recipe should yield about 24 cupcakes. 

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and cocoa powder. In another bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla with an electric mixer. I prefer to add the food coloring to the buttermilk before hand so it mixes properly.

Now, combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix with the electric mixer until the batter is smooth. 

Fill the cupcake tins till about 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes and turn them once, halfway through cooking. 

Let cool completely before icing. 

For the Icing:

Using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. After it is fully combined, sift in the confections sugar. Turn the electric mixer on high and beat until the icing is light and fluffy. 

Ice your cupcakes and enjoy! 

Veggie or Turkey Chili

I recently bought a Hamilton Beach Crock Pot and I am in love! It's great during  the winter for stews and a huge time saver all year long. I make the chili when I have time and then freeze it so during the week I can just throw it in before I go to work.


The recipe below can be made with either ground turkey or imitation vegetarian meat.


2 tbs vegetable Oil
6 medium/small chili peppers
1 small red pepper, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 jalapeno pepper (leave seeds in if you want a lot of spice)
3 cloves of garlic, minced 
3 scallions, sliced
1 1/2 lb of ground turkey or meat substitute 
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce 
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tbs powdered onion
1 tsp powdered garlic
2 tbs chili powder
1 tbs paprika
1/2 tbs ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 15 oz can of pinto beans (with liquid)
1 15 oz can of kidney beans (with liquid)
1 15 oz can of black beans (with liquid)
Cheddar cheese
Sour cream

First, I deseed all my chili's and dice them.

Than, dice your bell and jalapeno peppers, onion, scallions and garlic.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot and when it's warm add the vegetables and cook for about 8 minutes, until everything is well cooked. 

After your veggies have caramelized you can add your ground turkey or imitation meat. Be careful not to over stir it, you want the meat to stay a bit chunky. Cook until the ground turkey is no longer pink, about 5 minutes or until your imitation meat is cooked, which takes about the same time. I used imitation meat today and I got great results with Morning Star: Meal Starters.

Next, add the tomato paste and sauce and let it cook for about 4 minutes. Then, add the chicken broth, powdered onion, powdered garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Stir in the 3 different type of beans and stir.

Pour mixture into a slow cooker and set on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours. If you don't have a slow cooker, you can let this simmer on the stove top, uncovered for an hour. 

Add cheddar cheese and sour cream to your liking and serve over Lime Rice with Cilantro and you can find the recipe here:Lime Rice with Cilantro


Today, I froze it into two medium containers for the week. It's super easy to take one out, put it in the slow cooker and come home to a warm meal! 

When you're ready to heat the Chili up, place the chili and cook it the same way, high for 4 hours or low for 6.

Health Bread

My first recipe post is courtesy of my Mom. This is great for breakfast or a quick and healthy snack! The recipe is very easy to double and can be altered to include nuts, dried fruits or anything else you would like to add! 


1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup All-Bran Buds, the Kellogg's cereal
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt 
1/2 cup of raisins (soak overnight in 1 cup of water)
1 cup Sugar
1 egg


First, soak raisins overnight if possible. If you don't have time, I usually boil them for about 4 minutes, which makes them plump up a bit and soak in some of the water.


Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F). Use a no-stick cooking spray to coat a 10.5 x 5.5 bread pan and than gently flour the pan. 


Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk and let sit for a few minutes. You will notice it will become very airy, this is supposed to happen.


In a medium sized bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, flour, oatmeal, bran buds, sugar and salt.

Slowly add the raisins with water, eggs and buttermilk. Mix well, you can even use your hands. Pour the mixture into the bread pan and cook for 1 hour.

After the health bread has finished cooking, feel free to leave it in the pan and cut your pieces as you like or remove the whole loaf from the pan and keep in an airtight container.

Enjoy! I usually put a little butter on the bread and eat it with egg whites for breakfast.