Hiking Snacks!

Summer is coming in!  We have enjoyed several beautiful days here in Western Washington.

True, they've also been warm days -- and I'm not entirely fond of those ;).  But they have still been beautiful blue-sky days.  Great for soaking up the Vitamin D!

With this time of year come many opportunities to go hiking, back-packing, and camping!  And guess what!?!  THRIVE Life is awesome for those activities!  The foods are light-weight and so convenient!  So today I thought I'd share a couple of great hiking snack recipes using lots of THRIVE Life goodies!  These are especially great, because in addition to being light-weight, they are packed with great nutrients and protein -- the stuff to keep you going on those hikes!

MOUNTAIN MAN MIX

Mix equal parts:
THRIVE Sausage Crumbles
THRIVE Green Peas
THRIVE Sweet Corn
THRIVE Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Optional:  Sprinkle with THRIVE Chef's Choice Seasoning Blend to taste. (We opted out of the seasoning blend and it was still delicious!)

It's recommended you put all this in a bowl or container with a lid and shake, shake, shake (especially if you choose to use the seasoning blend).  

The other recipe is one I made up.  I call it Tropical Trail Mix.  Full of tropical fruits along with granola and nuts (and, of course, some chocolate!), it's a yummy little trail treat!

TROPICAL TRAIL MIX

2 cups Granola of your choice
¼ cup white chocolate chips

¼ cup milk chocolate chips

1/3 cup shredded coconut

2 ¼ cups THRIVE Mango

1 cup THRIVE Pineapple Chunks

1 cup THRIVE Banana Slices, broken

1 cup roasted salted cashews

½ cup THRIVE Passionfruit Yogurt Bites

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until well-mixed.  Enjoy!

I'm pretty excited about these hiking snacks!  They aren't just for hiking, of course :).  They are great for snacking anytime!  A great way to get some fruits and veggies.  I just think they are phenomenal for back-packing and hiking, because they do have the ingredients to really boost energy levels and provide great nutrition while doing so!

Are you a hiker or back-packer?  Would you love having great home-made and healthy trail snacks?  I can help you with that!  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla!

Happy THRIVEing!

Prepping for Baby!

As part of preparing for the arrival of our little bundle of joy, I knew I wanted to have several meals on-hand.  Over time, I decided I didn't just want dinner meals readily available, but also breakfast (since I have a hungry toddler to feed in the mornings :)). 

Once again, THRIVE Life has helped me!  And I can't say how much I love how versatile the product is.  It has helped me in so many ways with shaving time off meal prep, reducing waste, and offering my family healthier options (and easy ways to get veggies!).  And now it's helped me prepare for a baby!  So loving it!

So now I have dinners and breakfasts, all thanks to THRIVE Life! 

Here's what I now have on hand (in addition to several freezer meals that THRIVE also helped me with!):

Oatmeals (this is the basic recipe I followed, but changed up the fruit and some of the spices for some of them!)
Sausage Zuppa Toscana
Sloppy Joes (I haven't posted this as a jar meal specifically, yet, but plan to eventually.  The recipe is there, though, and I'll just add a can of tomato sauce since I don't have tomato powder on hand at the moment!)

I know it'll be so wonderful to have these on-hand when we have a newborn and sleep is hard to come by -- and time is a little crazy for a while :).  I love THRIVE, and I love my home store!

Would you love to do jar meals or learn more about them?  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!  We do jar meal classes periodically and are planning to do one in July for the sloppy joes!

Happy THRIVEing!

Q-Pon Cooking: Ground Beef (May 2015): Sloppy Joes

It's nearing the end of May and time is running out to take advantage of the great deal on THRIVE Ground Beef!  I have loved having this ground beef on hand, because it has made coming up with dinner in a pinch a cinch ;).  I didn't have to thaw any meat!  Or brown it, for that matter :).

In addition to the meatballs we made a few nights ago, we also tried out the ground beef in sloppy joes!  Love this recipe, which I found here.  And I love even more that it can be a jar meal!  Look for a great picture of that soon -- and a date to come make a jar of your own to take home at our next Jar Meal Event! 

We halved this recipe at my house and it still made plenty for my family!  The recipe as we made it (and as is shared below) would easily make 8 sloppy joes.  (For my family, that means it would feed 4; since my husband ate 3 of them!!!).  The recipe below is the way I made it with a few adaptations (for example, I didn't have tomato powder on hand, so I used a can of tomato sauce).

SLOPPY JOES
1 cup THRIVE Ground Beef (it's the Q-Pon item this month!!)
1/4 cup THRIVE Diced Tomatoes
3 tablespoons THRIVE Mixed Bell Peppers
2 tablespoons THRIVE Celery
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onion
1 tablespoon THRIVE Green Chilies
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce*
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt*
1/4 teaspoon pepper*
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

In a skillet, bring 2 cups water to a boil.  Turn off heat and add dry ingredients to skillet.  Stir to combine.  Let rest 15 minutes.

Mix Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, tomato sauce and red wine vinegar in a small bowl until combined.  Add sauce to ingredients in skillet.

Turn stove to medium and bring to simmer.  Simmer for 15 minutes or until sauce is desired thickness, stirring occasionally.  Serve on hamburger buns.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

This recipe was awesome-sauce!  In fact, I'm jar-mealing it to have on hand for when baby comes (which could be any day now!!!).  It's a great recipe for summer, so now's the time to stock up on the THRIVE Ground Beef so you can have some :)!  It's great served with home-fries and veggies!

Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla to place your order!  Remember, if you're a Q member, you have access to the Q-Pon item by simply logging in.  If you're not a Q member, you can still get the great deal by contacting me!

Happy THRIVEing!

Chef Todd's Salsa... Sort Of

I had a get-together the other evening when I hosted a doTERRA Class for my sister-in-law.  (If you're interested in Essential Oils, you should totally check out her website here.)  Being the foodie that I am, I can't not serve food at an event!

So I made salsa.  One of the reasons for this was because I could "showcase" the edible uses of a couple of the Essential Oils (cilantro and lime).

The other reason was because I knew my THRIVE foods would come through for me and I could throw together a salsa in a snap!  Which was particularly awesome when that day turned out to be a harder one that I'd originally anticipated.  I needed easy like you can't imagine that day...

This salsa knocked my socks off for a couple reasons.  1.  It tasted great.  2.  My husband really liked it.  3. It was literally done in 5 minutes and was in the fridge mingling flavors.  No chopping or washing of anything (except the dishes later one).  It was amazing.  I may never make any other fresh salsa again, now that I know I can be spoiled with my THRIVE!

I halved the recipe (which can be found in its original form here) and made it as follows:

CHEF TODD'S SALSA... SORT OF
2 cups THRIVE Tomato Dices
2 tablespoons THRIVE Green Chilies
1 tablespoon THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 tablespoon THRIVE Cilantro
1/8 teaspoon THRIVE Chef's Choice seasoning blend
1 drop doTERRA Lime Essential Oil
a smidge (try not to use a full drop -- it's potent!) doTERRA Cilantro Essential Oil
3/4 cup water

Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add the lime and cilantro oils to the water and stir.  Pour the oil-infused water into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Cover and chill at least 2 hours.  Serve with chips.

See?  I told you this was easy.

Would you love to enjoy fresh salsa made in minutes?  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website at www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla to place an order for these awesome ingredients!

Happy THRIVEing!

Jar Meal: Apple Pie Oatmeal

This Thursday I am doing a Make and Take Jar Meal class for my sweet friend Megan!  She's so awesome and she's so excited about THRIVE Life that she wants all her guests to have some THRIVE Life deliciousness to take home and enjoy -- hence the Apple Pie Oatmeal in a jar for every party guest :)! 

So this morning, my toddler and I tried it out!  And it is amazing!  My toddler asked for "more...more!"  And, considering she usually leaves her store-bought cereals to soak up milk and go soggy and go to waste, I was totally impressed that she at all of her oatmeal and wanted more! 

Being that I'm only 3 weeks away from my due date, I am definitely planning on making variations of this recipe to keep in my cabinet for easy to fix breakfasts after we have a new little bundle in our home (and I have less sleep in my body :)).  Definitely going to try doing it with bananas and cinnamon; strawberries and vanilla powder; peaches, etc.!  So versatile!

APPLE PIE OATMEAL
1 cup THRIVE Quick Oats
2 tablespoons THRIVE Instant Milk
1/4 cup brown sugar*
1/2 cup  THRIVE Granny Smith Apples, crushed/broken (about 5 to 6 apple slices)
2 teaspoons Apple Pie Spice

For the jar:  Layer ingredients in a pint-size jar, beginning with oats.

To prepare in microwave:  Place contents of jar in microwave-safe bowl (a larger one) and add 1 2/3 cups water.  Microwave on high 2 to 2 1/2 minutes in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval.  Add more water slowly to reach desired consistency.  Add milk as necessary to thin/cool after oatmeal is cooked.

To prepare on stove top:  Add contents of jar to 1 3/4 cups water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, adding water as necessary.  Add milk as necessary to thin/cool after oatmeal is cooked.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

This is 2 servings in the pint-size jar; but you can half the recipe (in a jelly jar) and have single-serve breakfasts!  Which would be totally awesome to take to work with you -- or send with your husband ;)!

I may have used too small of a bowl in the microwave...  And I may have had a little mess to clean up!  But it was so worth it!

I'm so excited about jar meals and how THRIVE Life can help me have easy and fast meals on hand like this oatmeal!  And I'm definitely glad for it as I prepare to make-ahead a bunch of meals (both breakfast and dinner!) to help us as we transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4!!!

Would you like to be able to make your own jar meals?  I can help you out!  Just contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website at www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla!

Happy THRIVEing!

*This is not my original recipe.  I got it from a jar meal cookbook available through my THRIVE Life team!

Sausage and Pepper Brunch Pizza

Earlier this year, I had a Pampered Chef party at my house.  As a result, I was able to score one of their new items for free!  It's this huge round baking stone that has handles and a little lip so that you can make things like quiches in it.  And I love it!

As part of the party, we made a recipe for Sausage and Pepper Brunch Pizza using the stone.  And I realized I could totally THRIVE-alize that recipe!  So I did!  And we had it for dinner the other night :).  (It was a brinner kind of evening that day...).

It was awesome having many of the ingredients on-hand, thanks to THRIVE Life!  And even more awesome that I could avoid handling raw sausage and raw eggs and the time (and mess) it would otherwise take to brown the sausage!!!  There is a reason THRIVE Sausage Crumbles are one of the most popular items THRIVE Life has to offer!!!

Below is the recipe as I made it.  But it is originally a Pampered Chef recipe and can be found here.

SAUSAGE AND PEPPER BRUNCH PIZZA

1 cup THRIVE Sausage Crumbles
3/4 cup THRIVE Red Bell Peppers (broken in smaller pieces)
1 tablespoon basil*
4 ounces Neufachtel cheese (1/3 of the fat of cream cheese option), softened
6 THRIVE Whole Eggs (6 tablespoons egg powder + 3/4 cup water)
1 16-ounce package refrigerated flaky biscuits (grands size)
4 ounces provolone cheese, shredded
black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place sausage crumbles and red bell pepper in a bowl.  Cover with boiling water and allow to sit and reconstitute.  Drain off excess water (after 5 to 10 minutes).

Separate the flaky biscuits in half so that you have 16 biscuits.  Lay overlapping on round dish and roll or press to cover entire dish (I used a Pampered Chef round baking stone).  Make sure all seems are sealed.  Press some up the sides a bit. 

In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave cream cheese 10 to 15 seconds until very soft and stir-able.  Whisk until smooth.  Add eggs, alternating powder and water, whisking to blend well after each addition. 

Sprinkle half the cheese over the biscuits.  Then sprinkle with the sausage/pepper mixture.  Sprinkle with basil.  Carefully pour egg and cheese mixture over all.  Sprinkle black pepper on top to taste.  Bake in preheated oven 15 to 17 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Definitely delicious!  Definitely easy!  Love having THRIVE on hand to help me with my meals :)!! 

Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla if you want to know more!

Happy THRIVEing!

Q-Pon Cooking May 2015: Ground Beef: Sweet & Sour Meatballs

This month, THRIVE Ground Beef is the Q-Pon item!  Which means it is a phenomenal deal and the perfect time to stock up!  A #10 can of the ground beef usually retails for $62.49, but in May, you can get it for $43.79!  That's an amazing savings!

Plus you get all the benefits of THRIVE Ground Beef:  no handling raw meat, no need to wait for meat to thaw, and no need to have grease splatter during the browning process!  And the flavor is great, by the way ;).

So here's the recipe for some delicious Sweet & Sour Meatballs using THRIVE Ground Beef (I halved the below recipe for my smaller family ;))!

SWEET & SOUR MEATBALLS
2 cups THRIVE Ground Beef
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup THRIVE Powdered Milk, rehydrated
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 teaspoon salt*
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 THRIVE Whole Egg, rehydrated (1 tablespoons powder + 2 tablespoons water)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed*
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 can pineapple tidbits with juice (I used crushed, because it's what I had :))
1/3 cup vinegar
1/8 cup THRIVE Mixed Bell Peppers
5 cups white rice, prepared*

Rehydrate freeze-dried ground beef by bringing 4 cups water to a boil.  Add beef and boil for 5 minutes.  Drain excess water.  Mix meat, dry bread crumbs, milk, onions, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and egg together; shape into twenty 1 1/2 inch sized balls

Place in skillet and cook over medium heat, turning occasionally until brown (about 20 minutes).

Mix brown sugar and cornstarch in a skillet.  Stir in pineapple, juice, vinegar, and soy sauce.  Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to medium, then add meatballs and peppers.

Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.  Serve over cooked rice.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

We served stir fry veggies alongside these meatballs.  Due to the fact that I forgot to halve the egg portion of the recipe (oops!), my meatballs didn't stick together as nicely as they should have.  However, they still tasted amazing!  My husband really liked the dish and the flavor of the ground beef!

One thing I really loved about the THRIVE Ground Beef is that it allowed me to not have a plan until later in the day!  By the time I decided on dinner, I wouldn't have had time to thaw the meat the way I prefer to thaw it (I don't like defrosting meat in the microwave, because it never comes out well!).  I love the convenience of having ground beef on-hand and ready to use at a moment's notice!!

Would you like to take advantage of the great deal on ground beef this month at THRIVE Life and enjoy the convenience of having it on-hand and the presence of it in your home store?  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website at www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla to place your order!  And contact me with any questions you may have!

Happy THRIVEing!

Jar Meal: Vegetarian Taco Soup

This past Tuesday was our Cinco de Mayo Jar Meal Event!  It was another get-together full of fun and good food!  So I figured I'd share the recipe for the Vegetarian Taco Soup!  We found the original recipe here, for anyone interested.  I have to say I'm grateful for the THRIVE Life Consultant community!  All the consultants help each other and are so willing to share recipes and ideas.  It's a wonderful group of which to be a part :)!  I tweaked it a little bit because we did the vegetarian option and used the THRIVE Taco TVP, which is already seasoned with taco seasoning.  But you can also use THRIVE Ground Beef in this recipe as well.

VEGETARIAN TACO SOUP

1 cup THRIVE Instant Black Beans

¾ cup THRIVE Sweet Corn

1/3 cup THRIVE Green Chilies

½  cup THRIVE TomatoPowder

3/4 cup THRIVE Taco TVP

1/3 cup THRIVE Chopped Onions

1/8 cup Taco Seasoning

1 ½ teaspoons Ranch Dressing Mix

Soup Preparation:

Bring 8 cups water to a boil in a soup pot.  Pour in contents of jar and stir; reduce heat to low and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until veggies are tender.  Optional:  Serve with your favorite taco toppings.

This recipe is incredibly flavorful!  We had lots of compliments from event attendees who tasted the samples -- and then made themselves jars to take home!  It is just a nice, quick-fix meal for those super-busy days!  

Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website:  www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla if you want to get the ingredients to be able to make these at home!  And if you want Ground Beef in yours, now is a great time to get it at a great price, since the THRIVE Ground Beef is this month's Q-Pon item!  For the month of May, you can get a #10 Can of Ground Beef for $43.79!  You can check it out and the other May specials here!

Happy THRIVEing!

Cauliflower Tots

As with many of the recipes I try, I cannot take credit for the original of this recipe -- which can be found here.  However, I can take credit for THRIVE-alizing it ;)!

I've mentioned before that I'm always on the lookout for a new way to get vegetables into my toddler (and myself!).  So when I saw that recipe on Pinterest, I thought it was a great idea!  And totally THRIVE-alize-able!  The added bonus is that these tots are a great dipper.  And my little girl loves to dip her food in ketchup, salsa, ranch, etc.  I have used these as a vegetable for dinner, but I think they could also work as a healthy snack!

So here's the recipe the way I made it!

CAULIFLOWER TOTS
2 cups THRIVE Cauliflower
1 THRIVE Whole Egg (+ 2 tablespoons water)
1 egg white
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 tablespoon dried parsley*
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese*
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor or blender, coarsely chop the cauliflower.  Pour into bowl (much of it will be powdered, but that's fine, you just want to get rid of the big pieces).  Add onion to bowl.  Add enough water to cover and allow to reconstitute for 5 minutes.  Drain.

Add THRIVE Whole Egg plus 2 tablespoons water and egg white.  Mix to combine.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray (or use a silpat).  Form cauliflower mixture (about 1 tablespoon at a time) into "tater-tot" size pieces (1 inch x 1/2 inch) and place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake in preheated oven 16 to 18 minutes, turning once halfway through.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

I really like these!  They are so toddler-friendly, but even I enjoyed them :).  Dipped in ketchup they are delicious as well!  And I love that I could skip the washing, chopping, and steaming of the cauliflower.  Along with chopping onions!  Having THRVE on-hand definitely made making these faster than it would otherwise have been! 

Feel free to contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website at www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla if you'd like to make your life easier with some yummy THRIVE Life veggies!!!

Happy THRIVEing!

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Honestly, it never would have occurred to me to try THRIVE-alizing ice cream!  However, a friend of mine said to me one day, "So I have this delicious recipe for my grandmother's homemade peach ice cream.  But it calls for raw eggs.  And that gives me the heebie jeebies.  So I was wondering if you thought the THRIVE Whole Eggs would work in the recipe?"

Well!  I thought it was a great opportunity to try something new and find out!  Plus I gave her some THRIVE Powdered Eggs to try it out on her grandmother's recipe to see how it turns out!  When she tries it, we'll see if it's comparable to her grandmother's traditional recipe :).

Meanwhile, I recalled a recipe I have had sitting in my "to try" recipe binder for a decade.  It's from a 1983 Southern Living magazine -- from back in the days when putting a recipe in a magazine that calls for raw egg yolks probably wasn't frowned upon.  Because that's what one of the ingredients is for this recipe!  But hey, I've been toting that recipe around for years, and figured this was a great time to try it out -- and avoid the heebie jeebies (and harm to my unborn) thanks to THRIVE Whole Eggs!  So, in my THRIVE-alizing of this recipe, I did change it a little bit.  But mostly kept the same :).

COOKIES AND CREAM ICE CREAM
2 tablespoons THRIVE Whole Egg Powder (+4 tablespoons water)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 teaspoons THRIVE Pure Vanilla Extract Powder
1 cup (or more!) coarsely crushed Oreo cookies
2 cups (1 pint) whipping cream, whipped (cannot be whipped topping!)

In a large bowl, mix together powdered eggs and water until all egg powder is dissolved.  Add vanilla extract powder and mix until well blended and dissolved.  Stir in sweetened condensed milk.  Fold in cookies and whipped cream.  Pour into aluminum foil-lined 9x5-inch loaf pan or other 2-quart container.  Cover; freeze 6 hours or until firm.  Scoop ice cream from pan or peel off foil and slice.  Return leftovers to freezer.

This worked out so deliciously!  I will warn you, however:  it is rich.

Funny tidbit:  At the bottom of the recipe, it cautions the user to use only Grade A clean, uncracked eggs for safety purposes, of course.  I don't know if you can actually get anything other than Grade A eggs (at least form a grocery store) these days, but I take comfort in knowing I don't need to worry about that when I use THRIVE Whole Eggs!

After much discussion with my husband, we decided the raw eggs called for in the original recipe may just be for flavor and may not be vital to the recipe's success.  But even so, if there is a special purpose (beyond flavor) for the raw egg, then the THRIVE Whole Egg Powder does the trick and makes some awesomely yummy (and totally unhealthy ;)) home-made ice cream!  Our family thoroughly enjoyed it for dessert last night (and we have more to enjoy for another night!).

The hoarder in me wants to hold on to this relic of a recipe from 1983... But the "trying to clean out the clutter" part of me knows the original recipe must go ;).

And now I'm thinking of ways to make more homemade ice creams using my THRIVE!  Powdering up fruits and mixing them in will add quite a variety of flavors to a simple vanilla ice cream recipe :)!  So I've got visions of raspberry ice cream, blueberry, banana... floating in my head.  Oh the possibilities are endless -- and easily on-hand! -- with THRIVE!

I need to do a product highlight for the THRIVE Whole Egg Powder, seriously.  It is the very first THRIVE Product I purchased and I love love love it and use it in so many ways!  So be looking for that in the posts ahead!

In the meantime, contact me if you'd like to get your hands on some!  It's amazing stuff!  THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website:  www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla

Happy THRIVEing!!!