Q-Pon Cooking: September 2015: Sweet Corn -- Southwestern Egg Rolls

I had Southwestern Egg Rolls on our 2-week menu list for about a month (we just didn't get to it last pay period), so today, I decided I needed to use those egg roll wrappers!  As I looked over the recipe today, I realized I could completely THRIVEalize this meal!!!  And so I did :).  The original recipe can be found here.  The recipe below is my THRIVEalized version!

1 1/2 cup THRIVE Sweet Corn
1 cup THRIVE Spinach
3/4 cup THRIVE Instant Black Beans
1/4 cup THRIVE Green Chilis
3 tablespoons THRIVE Green Onions
1 cup THRIVE Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese*
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 package egg roll wrappers
2 1/2 cups water, divided

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

In a small saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water and black beans to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

While the beans are cooking, put all remaining THRIVE ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.  Add 1 cup water and mix.  Allow to sit while beans finish cooking.  When beans are finished, drain the water and add to bowl along with cheddar cheese and seasonings.  Mix again until well combined.

Place an egg roll wrapper on a flat surface, with one corner pointing towards you.  Place about 1/4 cup mixture in the middle of the wrapper.

Fold corner closest to you over the mixture and roll a little bit.  Then fold in side corner and continue rolling.  Dip your finger in water and moisten the last corner and press to seal as you roll the rest of the way.

Continue with remaining wrappers.  (I ended up with about 17 egg rolls, but you could get more or less depending on how much filling you add.)  Place them on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Spray lightly with cooking spray.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, turning once during cooking.

And here's what they look like when done baking!

Serve warm with salsa!

Delicious!  We ate these for a meatless dinner, but they can also be a heavy appetizer!

Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com if you'd like to have these ingredients on hand!

THRIVE Helps Our FHE

With my husband working swing shift for a couple of weeks, we decided to hold our family home evening (FHE) in the day-time before he goes to work.  Sometimes, like today, that makes things a little rushed.  Today, our FHE got squeezed in between my dentist appointment, followed by lunch and a Primary Presidency meeting. 

And so, once again, THRIVE saved the day!  We are focusing our FHE lessons on THE FAMILY: A PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD.  Today, we talked about how we look like Heavenly Father and how we came to earth to receive a physical body.  Our lessons are generally quite short (my kids are 2 and 3 months), and I try to do something to help make what we talk about meaningful.  Unfortunately, I'm not the greatest idea person, so I turn to Pinterest!  And a lady shared how her kids used play-doh to make bodies for this lesson.  Well, at first I thought play-doh would be fun...  But then I thought about sugar cookie dough!  Because then we could eat our body-cookies ;)!

So these were the finished product!  Okay, so we look like giant Michelin men...  But that's our family in cookie form ;).  THRIVE made this so easy on a hectic day, because all I had to do was cream the butter, add the cookie mix, and some water -- and then I opted for powdered egg, because we were going to be handling the dough (and possibly eating it...).  It was so awesome!  And my 2 year old really loved making the dough people with her daddy while I fed the baby.

I feel like this was a successful and fun lesson!  I'm grateful for idea people (since I'm not one!) and grateful for THRIVE products that help me execute quickly!

Happy THRIVEing!

Q-Pon Cooking: September 2015: Sweet Corn -- Easy Spanish Rice

I wanted to make some Chubby Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos for my family's dinner the pay period, and pondered a recipe I could serve with those.  I generally try to stay within a similar "theme" for dinners, so if I make something that sounds sort of Mexican...  Well, I work on having something else Hispanic.  I'm maybe a bit crazy ;).

So I remembered a recipe on the #10 can of THRIVE Mixed Bell Peppers for Easy Spanish Rice that sounded -- well -- easy!  And then it turned out that this recipe called for THRIVE Sweet Corn, the Q-Pon item for September!  So that was a bonus!

The recipe is super easy, and I was able to throw it all together while having 5 kids ages 8 and under in my house (one of them 2 1/2 months old and 2 of them 2 year olds!).  I call that a winner if I can be successful with a dish under those circumstances :).

I used the recipe to start, but added many more THRIVE ingredients than the original recipe called for, ergo I had to play with the water a little bit and didn't keep an accurate measurement.  But I'd say I added around 3 cups of water total.

EASY SPANISH RICE
1/4 cup THRIVE Mixed Bell Peppers
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 teaspoon THRIVE Chicken Bouillon
3 cups water
1 cup THRIVE Sweet Corn (Q-Pon item this month -- contact me!)
1/2 cup Salsa
1 1/2 cup THRIVE Instant White Rice

Add all ingredients except rice to medium saucepan and cook 10 minutes, finally bringing to a boil.  Add rice and cover.  Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.  *Optional, add shredded cheddar cheese and stir.  (I didn't do this initially, but when I had leftovers, I added some cheese and thought it was wonderful with the cheese!)

This was super easy to throw together, as I said.  A great side dish!  The THRIVE Sweet Corn will be the Q-Pon item for all of September.  If you have a Q, simply add the corn to your next Q shipment!  If not, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com and I'll help you get the great price on this very popular -- and delicious -- THRIVE Life product!

Happy THRIVEing!

A Meal By Mail

I have a dear friend in Alabama who recently had a sweet baby girl.  With all my heart, I wish I was closer so I could go over and take dinner for her family.  I know how fun it can be to have a newborn and still have to prepare dinners for a hungry family!  I know it takes a while for the whole family to adjust to the newest little member.  And so, when dinners were brought to our home just a couple months ago, we were so very grateful.  I wanted so very much to offer my sweet friend the same thing.  But I live in Washington -- and it's not super convenient to drive to Alabama to deliver a meal ;). 

But once again, THRIVE Life came to the rescue!  It occurred to me that I do have a way to offer my friend a meal for her family that would be very quick and easy to prepare.  Literally just add water!!!  So this morning, I prepped a whole meal for her family and shipped it off in the mail -- all using THRIVE!  I posted some pictures of it to my Facebook business page ("THRIVEing with Hila," if you're interested in following me!) and had a request that I share the recipes.  So here they are, the recipes I used for a meal by mail for my dear friend!

VEGETARIAN TACO SOUP  (original recipe posted here, but I changed some measurements)
 1/2 cup THRIVE Instant Black Beans
1/4 cup THRIVE Taco TVP
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons THRIVE Sweet Corn
3 tablespoons THRIVE Chili Peppers
1/4 cup THRIVE Tomato Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 tablespoon Taco Seasoning
3/4 teaspoon ranch dressing mix

Bring 4 cups water to boil.  Add contents of bag and simmer 15 minutes.  Add additional water to your preference.


GOLDEN CORNBREAD (this is a THRIVE Life recipe)
1 cup THRIVE Cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour*
2/3 cup white sugar*
1/2 cup THRIVE Butter Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Whole Egg Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Nonfat Powdered Milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put contents of bag into a medium mixing bowl.  Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir (or whisk) until well blended and lumps are gone.  Pour into a greased 8x8 pan.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to set 15 to 20 minutes before serving.


SUMMER (BERRY) LEMONADE (recipe from the can of Summer Lemonade)
1 cup sugar*
2 tablespoons THRIVE Summer Lemonade
berries of your choice (I included THRIVE Strawberry Slices and THRIVE Raspberries)

Mix contents of larger bag with 2 quarts (8 cups) water.  Chill.  Add berries of your choice to individual servings.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

All of these things can be done in jars as well.  In fact, we will be making the Golden Cornbread at our upcoming jar meal event in September!  So if you're interested in attending, let me know so I can get you the details!  The cornbread is awesome, by the way...  My family had it with chili on Friday (the chili recipe will also be available at the jar meal event in September!).

I noted in the instructions to them that I recommend these be used within a month, since they are not vacuum sealed.  At the jar meal events, we do vacuum seal the jars and that means they are good for 5 years!

I am truly excited I found a way to get a meal to my friend.  She is an amazing woman and we have a friendship I treasure beyond words.  And I hope this dinner makes at least one of these days with a new little miracle just a little bit easier -- and yummy to boot!

If you'd like to know more about this and how you can get all these great ingredients, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website:  www.thriveingNilla.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla.

Happy THRIVEing!

Farfalle Basil Marinara

This is now one of my go-to dinners!  Especially in the summer!  It's stove-top.  It's fast.  And it's delicious!  My whole family loves it!  It was served at a Power Up Seattle, and I knew I wanted to have it again at home!  And now we have it again and again :).

FARFALLE BASIL MARINARA
2 cups farfalle (bowtie) pasta*
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon garlic
1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1/2 cup THRIVE Tomato Dices
1/4 cup THRIVE Classic Tomato Sauce, dry
1/4 teaspoon THRIVE Chef's Choice Seasoning Blend
1/2 tablespoon Basil*
1/4 cup THRIVE Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes until done.  Drain and set aside.

Sweat oil and garlic together in saucepan.  Add all remaining ingredients except Parmesan and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes.

Toss pasta with sauce and Parmesan and bring back to a simmer.  Simmer another minute or so and then enjoy!

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

As written, this recipe makes about 3 servings.  But it would be very easy to double it for a larger family!  Seriously, our dinner was done in about 30 minutes from start to finish that night!  We served this dish alongside sauteed spinach, fresh strawberries, and French bread!  Yum!

And let me just say that I love the Classic Tomato Sauce!  I never would have considered buying it had it now been for trying this recipe at the Power Up.  Now I consider it a home store staple!

Happy THRIVEing!

Q-Pon Cooking: August 2015: THRIVE Peanut Flour: Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles

It's time to celebrate!  My sweet baby boy has slept for 5 solid hours the last 2 nights (and here's to hoping this isn't a fluke, but a trend!).  All you moms out there know this is a reason to celebrate!

I can't celebrate by eating these (due to the chocolate coating).  But I can celebrate by sharing them with all of you :)!  Just one more reason to love the THRIVE Peanut Powder!

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH TRUFFLES
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 2/3 cup THRIVE Vanilla Sugar Cookie Mix
2/3 cup THRIVE Peanut Flour
2 tablespoons water
10 ounces chocolate for dipping

Cream butter.  Add next 3 ingredients and mix until a dough forms.  Form into 1/2-inch balls and freeze 15 minutes (for easier handling).

Melt chocolate.  Dip balls and allow to dry completely.  SAVOR!  And have one for me ;).

Happy THRIVEing!!!

Why I Prep

Preppers are a group who believe in being prepared for the unexpected.  I consider myself a prepper, even if I'm not the best at it.  I believe in being prepared.  I believe in being self-reliant as much as possible.  I believe in being able to help others when things are hard.

This is part of why I love THRIVE Life and my opportunity to be a consultant and share it with others. 

I think many people think it is silly to store a year's supply of food.  Silly to have a 72-hour kit.  Silly to expect something awful.  Perhaps we preppers seem like doomsday people.  I don't know.  I just know I feel peace knowing I am working to have food to feed my family.  That I am working to make sure we have potable water in an emergency. 

One night, while up in the middle of the night feeding a sweet baby, I came across this article from the New Yorker.  Perhaps you have seen it.  Yeah, I'll admit it is a scary article.  And it made me even more driven to prepare even more.  Since that article had so much interest (and scared a lot of people in the Pacific Northwest), there have been a couple other articles written.  You can read those here and here.  This is why I am a prepper.

The time is NOW to get prepared. I still have more prepping to do myself (for example, we don't have a tent...).  But I'm grateful for what I do have at this point to bring me peace of my mind concerning my family.  I'm grateful I have the opportunity to share THRIVE Life, a company with great-tasting, healthy, convenient food, which also happens to have a phenomenal shelf-life and will enable people to have THRIVEing lives in spite of difficult challenges which may come (in whatever form they may be in!).  And remember, as one of the articles states:  it is better to do something than nothing -- even if you can't do it all.  Start small.  But start!