Healthy 5-Ingredient Spaghettios!

Do you ever happen upon something amazing, totally by accident?  Serendipity!  (The movie by the same name is also awesome, by the way ;)). 

Well, that happened to me the other day.  I was making a pasta dish I make at least once a month.  But I realized I had forgotten to purchase store-bought Alfredo sauce.  At first I was despairing, because I knew I wasn't making a special trip to the grocery store for that one ingredient.  Which would mean I'd have to have a straight red sauce for the pasta, or I'd have to pick something else... 

...Until I remembered my home store and my amazing THRIVE Life Bechamel Sauce!  Dinner -- as I wanted it -- was saved!  I would just add a little Bechamel Sauce and extra water, and we'd have something akin to what I usually make. So that's just what I did.  And get this:  it was even better than before!  And as I tasted the sauce to make sure it would "work," I thought, "Huh...  This tastes a lot like Spaghettios sauce!"  I knew I had to replicate it and make it for lunch the next day. 

So to all you mamas out there who loved Spaghettios as children, but are hesitant to feed it to your own kids because you really don't like the high fructose corn syrup in said Spaghettios...  I have your solution!  It's easy, it's fast, and you can even pre-prep it and have it stored in a jar to just add water to when ready to cook!

Let me introduce you to Spaghettios -- THRIVEalized!

3/4 cup Ditalini pasta (you can add up to 1 cup, it will just be thicker than traditional Spaghettios)
1/4 cup THRIVE Bechamel Sauce
1/4 cup THRIVE Tomato Powder
1 teaspoon THRIVE Classic Tomato Sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

Place ingredients in a pot with 2 1/4 cups water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer (stirring occasionally) 20 minutes or until pasta is tender, but not mushy.

This will serve 2 to 3 people, depending how much you put in a serving (and I mean adults here...  Because let's face it:  sometimes we want to re-live our childhood too ;)).

And because our THRIVE Life foods are non-GMO, and include no hydrogenated oils, no artificial flavors and no artificial colors, I can take comfort in knowing I am offering my children (and eating) a healthier option of a childhood favorite!  (You can check out any of our labels online; here is an example.)  Plus you control what kind of pasta you (organic, gluten-free, etc)! 

My 3 year old ate her whole bowl (and she, oddly enough, did not like the canned Spaghettios I bought her to try a few months ago!).  I call it a win.

So to all of my fellow nostalgics out there....  you're welcome!

And Happy THRIVEing!

*This post contains affiliate links.  I earn a small commission on any purchases made through these links.*

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Don't you love it when you go to the store and forget something so basic as bread?  Even when it's on your list!  Yeah, I did that.  On Saturday night. 

I didn't want to go to the store for a special bread-buying trip for a couple of reasons:  1.  waste of gas to buy only one thing.  2.  I am an impulse shopper (I know, shameful!) and that one thing would have turned into more than one, I can guarantee it.  Which means I'm spending money I don't need to. 

Anyway, without bread in the house earlier today, I decided to try my hand at some whole wheat tortillas I found a recipe for in the THRIVE Cookbook.  I love that this recipe can be made with 100% food storage!  And 100% THRIVE, for that matter.  Mine weren't 100% THRIVE, simply because we have wheat from years ago given to us by my in-laws, and we grind it up for flour.  We need to use the oldest stuff first, naturally ;).  But this could totally be 100% THRIVE.  And I love that I had my THRIVE Shortening Powder on hand to use!  It is one of my favorite items, because I don't usually buy shortening.  I buy butter a lot at the store, but not shortening, as very few of my recipes call for it.  So I'm really thrilled that, on the rare occasion my recipe calls for shortening, I now have a solution in my home store!

Anyway, so on to the recipe!  (P.S.  I halved the recipe below and ended up with 12 tortillas)

WHOLE WHEAT TORTILLAS
1 cup white flour*
4 cups whole wheat flour*
2 teaspoons salt*
1/2 cup THRIVE Shortening Powder (plus 1 to 2 tablespoons water)
 2 1/4 cups boiling water
additional flour for rolling

Sift together white flour, whole wheat flour, and salt.  Add shortening powder and mix.  Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water and mix in with a fork (or hands) until mixture is crumbly.

Make a well in the center of the mixture, then pour boiling water in the well.  Mix with a fork until all the water is evenly incorporated into the mixture.  Dough should be soft and not sticky.  If your dough is too flaky, add more water 2 tablespoons at a time until dough comes together.

Sprinkle with a bit of additional flour and knead until the dough does not stick to fingers (this took me about an additional 1/4 cup).  Make balls the size of golf balls and place them on a sheet pan.  Cover the dough with a cloth and let sit for an hour.

Heat a griddle or large frying pan over high heat.  On a lightly floured surface (we found we needed it heavily floured or the dough would stick...), roll out a tortilla as thinly as you prefer.  Fry the first side for approximately 10 seconds until you see a bubble form in the middle of the tortilla.  Flip the tortilla and let it cook for approximately 30 more seconds.  Flip the tortilla once more and let it cook for 30 seconds more.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

So this was my (and my husband's) first attempt at making tortillas from scratch.  We learned a lot!  I think we may have over-floured in an effort to prevent sticking when rolling.  And I think we over-cooked and dried them out.  We learned by the last few, and then those were much better.  They all still tasted fine.  Just some were drier than others. 

I used the tortillas to make cheese quesadillas for our lunch.

Then, I used one and slathered it with Nutella and put a banana in it and sliced it for an afternoon snack for my toddler and myself ;).

It was definitely a lot of fun trying out new things with the tortillas :).  And, as always, I had fun using my THRIVE!

Party Food!

Tonight I had the opportunity to do a party for my friend Christina.  I find that I am still learning a lot as I continue in this adventure of being a consultant for THRIVE Life.  I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow and expand my horizons!

I've found that I love to share food with guests at the parties.  And today, I shared 3 different things:

Berry Banana Smoothie
Chicken Salad with crackers
Quad Chocolate Cookies

I've shared the recipes for the smoothie and the cookies before, so if you click those links, you'll be able to visit those recipes (they are yum!).  In fact, the smoothie recipe is even available on the new THRIVE Life recipe site, because I submitted it to them!  It's kind of exciting ;)!

So tonight I will share the awesome chicken salad recipe!  It's so easy to throw together, and the ladies at the party tonight were impressed with just how easy and fast it was!  So here it is:

CHICKEN SALAD
2 1/2 cups THRIVE Chopped Chicken
1/2 cup THRIVE Chopped Onion
3/4 cup THRIVE Celery
2 cups water
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1/4 teaspoon pepper*

Combine the chicken, onions, celery, and water; stir well and place in refrigerator 10 minutes.  In a medium size bowl, mix remaining ingredients until well incorporated.  Mix chicken mixture into mayonnaise mixture without draining.  Salad may be slightly runny, but will thicken.  Refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours and stir before serving.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

When I make this recipe, I just mix everything together in a bowl and refrigerate it 1 1/2 hours.  It works just fine :).  No need to dirty extra bowls ;)!

And you could totally make the chicken salad mix (meaning the chicken, celery, onions, and seasoning) ahead of time and put in a jar -- then take it to work or have it for a ready-to-fix lunch or snack for a busy day!

If you are interested in any of the awesome THRIVE Life products to help you make these delicious recipes, just contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!

Cooking with the Q-Pon!: 10 Grain Pancake Mix: Sausage Cheese PopUms

THRIVE Life 10 Grain Pancake Mix isn't just for awesomely delicious and healthy pancakes!  I recently used them in Sausage Cheese PopUms -- and were they ever yum!

This recipe can be used as an appetizer, a snack, a lunch, a brunch, and even a breakfast!  Very versatile!!!

I also loved how fast these came together!  I spent 10 minutes hands-on with this recipe -- and most of that was spooning the batter into the mini muffin tins!  Not having to cook meat is a real time-saver!  You can choose to make bigger muffins and it would take less time.  But I chose to follow the recipe and make the mini-muffins.  Just because, sometimes, mini muffins are fun!

I found this recipe on the awesome new THRIVE Life Recipe site, but I made a few change to accommodate what I had on-hand!  Here's the recipe as I made it:

SAUSAGE CHEESE POPUMS
1 cup THRIVE Sausage Crumbles
1 cup hot water
1 cup THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix
3 tablespoons THRIVE Butter Powder (plus 2 tablespoons water)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put THRIVE Sausage Crumbles into a small mixing bowl. Add hot water, stir and let sit 10 minutes.

Put THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix into medium mixing bowl. Add THRIVE Putter Powder plus 2 tablespoons water.  Mix with your hands until crumbly.  Add cheese to mixture and toss to coat. 

Add the sausage AND the water to the pancake mixture and gently stir until moistened. Scoop into well-greased mini muffin pan that has been sprayed with Butter Spray. Bake 18-22 minutes until golden brown and done in the middle (mine took 17 minutes).  Yield: about 28 mini muffins

I took these for lunch at a friend's house and we liked them.  They were moist and delicious.  And super easy!

There's only a couple weeks left to get the 10 Grain Pancake Mix at Q-Pon price!  So contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com to get it! -- or any of the other awesome time-saving foods!

Happy THRIVEing!

Using THRIVE Butter Powder Again!

Having THRIVE butter powder in my home store is exciting to me.  Mostly because I like the idea of a longer-term store of butter.  But I'll be honest when I say I am not always great at remembering to use it.  Particularly because I do a lot of sauteing, and I've read other blogs which indicate the butter powder does not saute well.  I've tried it out as a spread, and I thought that was great.  I've even made cookies with it -- and that worked out well (and the cookies were delicious, so that's really what matters most!).  But I like versatility -- and I like knowing I can use my butter powder in a variety of ways!

So today, I remembered to try out my THRIVE butter powder in two new ways!

1.  Kraft {Blue Box} Macaroni and Cheese.  Okay, so I like this stuff.  To tell the truth, I prefer the Velveeta... But one day I noticed the sodium content of Velveeta and decided I'd go with the Blue Box.  Not much better, but a little bit.  I know it's not the best stuff.  Which is why I don't give it to my daughter...  Yet I eat it.  (Probably an unwise choice...  But oh well.)  So, the preparation for the macaroni and cheese calls for butter, right?  Well, today I decided to use THRIVE Powdered Butter and see how it went!  I added a tablespoon of the powdered butter along with the milk and the cheese packet and just stirred!  It worked out great :).  I probably should have added a bit more milk, but I never actually measure the milk anyway, so mine usually comes out a little drier than it could be.

2.  For dinner I made Tomato Biscuit and Cheese.  This is a recipe my mother-in-law gave me -- which she got from her mother-in-law :).  I think that's pretty cool.  There is always the option of buying English Muffins or pre-prepared biscuits.  But I usually make mine from scratch.  I didn't have any shortening (and dog-gone-it...  My THRIVE shortening powder only just shipped today with my host benefits order from my launch party, so I didn't have that either!).  So I decided to use butter powder instead.  I just added the butter powder right into the dry ingredients!  I will post the recipe -- as I made it -- below.  (By the way, I just got rave reviews on the biscuits from my husband -- and he had no idea I made them with butter powder!  And he is generally my best gauge for anything new I try ;)...).

Baking Powder Biscuits
1/4 cup THRIVE butter powder
2 cups all-purpose flour* (I used 1 cup white and 1 cup whole wheat)
1 tablespoon sugar*
3 teaspoons baking powder*
3/4 teaspoon salt*
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk* (you may want to add more milk -- up to 1/4 cup)

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Place THRIVE butter powder, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine.  Add milk and stir until just blended.  Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet
and cook 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook.

*Denotes ingredients available through THRIVE Life.