My Mom's Zucchini Bread

My Mom was the best bread maker ever, or at least I think so. One of my husband's favorite breads is my Mom's Zucchini Bread. When he was deployed I mailed him a couple of loaves and now that he is home I have made at least 4-6 loaves of the stuff. We are headed out on vacation, driving cross country so I made some more last night. So yummy!

Ingredients
3 Eggs
1 c. Oil
2 c. Sugar
2 c. Grated Zucchini (about 2 medium zucchinis)
2 t. vanilla
3 c. flour (whole wheat or all purpose)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
3 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Directions
Heat oven to 325*. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans, grease well. Don't use the smaller sized loaf pans. Combine all ingredients. Bake 1 hour.

Such an easy recipe and oh so yummy!

Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

One of my favorite go to cookbooks is Healthy Meals for Less by Jonni McCoy I will admit I love trying to be as frugal as possible and this cookbook is a great way to do that. All of the recipes are less than a $1 per serving and healthy! What a combo right!?!
I enjoy making my own mixes, spices, etc. when I can. This Taco Seasoning recipe is great because it really has cut out a lot of the sodium and junk that is found in the pre-packaged mixes. Again I have tweaked the recipe a little.
Ingredients
*1/4 Whole Wheat Flour
*1-1 1/2 T. Chili Powder
*1/4 c. onion powder
*2 1/2 t. garlic powder
*3 t. salt
*4 t. paprika
*1/4 t. cayenne pepper
* 2 t. sugar
*2 t. cumin
*2 t. oregano
Directions
Put all ingredients in blender. Blend until powdery (no more than 5 seconds). This mix can be stored in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
3T of mix= 1 pre-packaged mix

Turkey Taco Meatloaf

Hungry Girl's cookbooks are commonly used in my house. There are so many recipes that I love to make from her cookbooks. Most of my favorites are lunch type recipes but I must say that I absolutely love Hungry Girl's Turkey Taco Meatloaf. My family doesn't normally like meatloaf but this recipe isn't your traditional meatloaf! I have changed the recipe up a little bit but not much.
Ingredients
*1lb raw ground turkey
*2 slices Kraft Singles
*1/2c shredded cheese (I personally like Colby Jack)
*1/2c frozen corn, thawed
*1/4c diced bell pepper
*1/4c. diced onion
*1/2c. salsa
*1/2-1T. Taco Seasoning
Directions
Preheat oven to 375*. Cook peppers and onions for 2-3minutes over medium heat. In a bowl combine onions, peppers, turkey, corn, and seasoning. Spread half of the mixture evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan (greased). Layer Kraft Singles on top of mixture. Top cheese with remaining mixture. Pour salsa over loaf and cook for 30 minutes. Top loaf with shredded cheese and cook for another 15 minutes.
This recipes makes 6 servings but because it is such a low calorie recipes and the servings are kind of small I find my family often eats 2 servings instead of just one.

Meal Plan 6/13-6/19

This week is kind of strange and though I do have a meal plan it is nothing special. So I am not going to share it but I do have next week's plan completed already and thought I would go ahead and share it with you instead.

Monday: Blackened Catfish with Mashed Potatoes and Green Peas
Tuesday: Spaghetti with Mushroom Sauce, Garlic Bread, and Green Beans
Wednesday: Turkey Taco Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes, and Green Peas
Thursday: Homemade Vegetable Pizza with Garlic Bread
Friday: Grilled Steak, Asparagus, and Mashed Potatoes
Saturday: Lemon Pepper Tilapia Brown Rice, and Green Beans
Sunday: Fiberific Chicken Fingers, French Fries, and a vegetable

I will try to share recipes throughout the week as I make things since I typically tweek the recipes a bit. This will be my first week trying to stick to my weekly meal plan. I am not a huge fan of fish but my husband is so I know he will enjoy the extra fish on the menu.

What Clean, Healthy Eating Means to Me?

It is my belief that cleaning, healthy eating is an individual/family journey, there isn't one defining set of rules to determine what is clean, healthy eating. I am sure there are those that will disagree with me and say that such a lifestyle can be defined only as x,y, and z. That may be their belief but to me what we chose to put in our bodies is an individual decision and we can define our eating habits in anyway we chose.

So for our family cleaning, healthy eating means:
-Cooking homemade, from scratch meals whenever possible.
-Preparing well balanced meals with all the nutrients our bodies require.
-Eliminating or avoiding processed foods as much as possible.
-Preparing healthy snack options instead of processed snacks.
-Implement more fruits and vegetables into our daily diets.
-Use whole grains rather than processed grains.
-Encourage water over juices, pop, etc.

These are just the beginning thoughts on what clean, healthy eating means to me. I am sure I am leaving out things.

The Quest

I am on a quest to balance our meals and create a healthier lifestyle for our family. I have attempted this quest many times in the past and can never quite succeed. The convenience of unhealthy eating always seems to overpower my determination to clean our diets up. I created this blog in part to share recipes but also to help track my progress of creating healthy, clean meals for my family.
Instead of trying to change everything all at once I have decided that I am going to try to slowly implement the changes I would like to see. This quest may take a while to get started because my husband is currently deployed, though returning very soon, and then we are planning to take an extended family vacation. Rather than putting off the planning until we get settled after vacation I have decided to start small now. I am going to set several monthly goals for myself that incorporate the idea of eating clean, healthy foods and eliminating the unhealthy options.
This is not to say I expect this to be an easy journey or a perfect journey. Yes, we will still eat out on occasion, even fast food, but I believe that an overall clean, healthy diet is better than a junk filled unhealthy diet.
My June Goals:
-Find 10 homemade snack recipes
-Find 10 Meatless recipes
-Find 10 Fish recipes
-Find 10 chicken/poultry recipes
-Begin trying new recipes.
-Implement weekly dinner plan (see below).
-Begin to eliminate unhealthy/processed snacks.

*Weekly Dinner Plan*
Monday: Fish
Tuesday: Meatless
Wednesday: Chicken/Poultry
Thursday: Meatless
Friday: Beef or Free Night
Saturday: Fish
Sunday: Chicken/Poultry