Tag Archives: Nutrition

Black Bean Salsa- SRC Post!

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Happy SRC Reveal day! Ah, I just love the Secret Recipe Club!! So much fun to explore new blogs, while someone else gets to try one of your recipes and post all about it.

Black Bean Salsa | Beautiful Disasters

This month, I got Renee’s blog, Eat. Live. Blog. Renee went from the busy business world to world of education. She keeps in touch with her creative side by keeping up with her blog. I think that it is awesome that she has truly found that perfect balance in her life!

Black Bean Salsa | Beautiful Disasters

Originally, I was going to make her black beans over rice dish, which sounds so yummy to me. A couple months ago, I made the switch over to becoming a vegetarian, so it is always exciting to find tasty, filling entrees.

Black Bean Salsa | Beautiful Disasters

However, I did not get around to making the beans and rice dish, so I whipped up her black bean salsa in a jiffy. Whew-eee! I’m glad I did! It was so quick and simple and I go through jars of salsa like crazy, so it was nice to have such a big homemade batch around. You guys have got to try this salsa, and check out some more of her yummy concoctions!

Black Bean Salsa | Beautiful Disasters

Black Bean Salsa

(From Eat Live Blog)

1 can black bean (drained but not rinsed)

1 jalapeno (seeded and roughly chopped – keep a few seeds for more heat)

1 small tomato (roughly diced)

1/2 small onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 handfuls fresh washed cilantro

1 lime

    1. Place beans in a bowl and lightly smash with a fork, I left about half of the beans whole, unmashed.
    2. Squeeze lime juice over the beans
    3. Place cilantro, garlic and onion in a food processor or blender and pulse until diced but not liquified
    4. Mix diced veggies into beans
    5. Add diced tomatoes and mix
    6. Salt and pepper to taste
    7. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, stir and serve!

Black Bean Salsa | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: Henry Ford produced the model T only in black because the black paint available at the time was the fastest to dry.

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Peanut Butter Bread

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Peanut butter has been a long time friend of mine.

Peanut Butter Bread | Beautiful Disasters

It has been there with me through several phases and stages in my life. It has stuck with me through thick and thin. It has been stuck in the middle of a sandwich with grape jelly. It has been stuck in the middle of a sandwich with banana. It has been stuck in the middle of a sandwich with marshmallow fluff. It has also been stuck on the roof of my mouth a lot. But I digress…

Peanut Butter Bread | Beautiful Disasters

Sometimes you think of a recipe and are like “Why is this just making sense to me now?!”. That is basically peanut butter bread [for me].

Peanut Butter Bread | Beautiful Disasters

I felt slightly guilty making this recipe because for some reason, my dad (the pb&j-aholic), does not appreciate peanut butter cookies, breads, frostings, or basically any recipe based around peanut butter. And this recipe happens to be peanut butter on steroids. But that just meant more for me!

Peanut Butter Bread | Beautiful Disasters

This recipe is delicious by itself, but if you want to spruce it up, it would be something special if you put in a cup of chopped nuts or a cup or chocolate chips! I loved having a slice of this everyday after school, it’s great to give you a little boost of energy and is amazing with some grape jelly spread on top. Or by yourself if you don’t have the patience for spreading jelly..

Peanut Butter Bread

(Makes 1 loaf)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup milk (I used skim)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray your loaf pan with cooking spray. Mine was a silicone loaf pan, but I sprayed it anyways just for good measure.
  2. In a small bowl whisk together flours and baking powder until fully combined. Set aside
  3. Using the mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and peanut butter until combined and smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Be sure to scrape down the sides to include everyone in the party!
  4. Add dry ingredients to peanut butter mixtures and slowly mix together until combined and crumbly. Slowly add in the milk and mix until fully incorporated.
  5. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean. Let cool for about 20 minutes in loaf pan and then cut and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Bread | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second.

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Roasted Chickpeas-SRC Post!

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What?! Secret Recipe Club reveal time is already here?? What have I been doing with my life?

Roasted Chickpeas | Beautiful Disasters

I’m not sure why the time seemed to go by so much faster this time. It could been that February only has 28 days.. or maybe the copious amounts of Harlem Shake videos I have been watching (why don’t they get old?)..or maybe because I have approximately 192837019238 things on my mind right now between soccer tryouts starting today, figuring out college stuff, and keeping up with school work.

Roasted Chickpeas | Beautiful Disasters

Anywho enough about me. Let’s talk about Anne! I was assigned to explore her blog, Anne Jisca’s Healthy Pursuits this month and had a blast poking around her recipes. She has loads of yummy stuff on there, so be sure you check her out!! I decided on her Roasted Chickpeas, but I know I was super tempted by her breads-they look and sound ah-mazing.

Roasted Chickpeas | Beautiful Disasters

I’m so glad I chose the roasted chickpeas, they’re so tasty and a perfect snack for on-the-go or anytime! They’re so much better for you than a bag of chips and they really energize you to get you through that workout you’re debating.

Roasted Chickpeas | Beautiful Disasters

Roasted Chickpeas

(From Anne Jisca’s Healthy Pursuits)

1 can (15 oz) chickpeas (I used garbanzo beans, pretty sure they’re the same thing)

oil or cooking spray

spices and seasonings (See Note)

Salt, pepper (to taste)

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Coat your chick peas with oil, sprinkle with salt and seasonings of your choice (See Note)
  3. Spread seasoned chickpeas on a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for around 25-30 minutes, shaking them around occasionally, until dry and crunchy. Watch them towards the end to make sure they don’t burn.

Note: for my seasonings I used about 1 Tablespoon paprika, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Roasted Chickpeas | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: Penguins can convert salt water into fresh water.



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Kale Chips

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I know I am a little late on the whole kale bandwagon here butttttt..better late than never, right?

Baked Kale Chips | Beautiful Disasters

I have heard rave reviews from multiple bloggers about kale chips and have been meaning to make them since like for ever. Kale is not something that we typically have in our house, as I tend to avoid bitter, spiky-looking lettuce type leaves.

Baked Kale Chips | Beautiful Disasters

Side-note: One of my biggest pet peeves is when restaurants serve all the purple and spiky, scary looking leaves in their house or side salads. YUCK! I know that the darker leaves tend to be healthier for you, but bleeeck, I am either forced to drown them in dressing or completely avoid them. So they really do not end up being any healthier for me. Please note this fancy-pants restaurants!

Baked Kale Chips | Beautiful Disasters

Baked Kale Chips | Beautiful Disasters

This is the kale before baking, look at the next picture to see how much they shrink!

Back to kale, I decided to give this one a go the other day when I saw that they actually sell already-made kale chips at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. My thoughts were if people are really buying this stuff, then it must be tasty.

Baked Kale Chips | Beautiful Disasters

This is the kale after baking, they shrink a bit! Beware of over-seasoning

Guys, if you haven’t been convinced by the bajillion kale chip recipe pins on pinterest, or the other gazillion bloggers who have raved about kale chips, listen to me. These are the bomb.com.

Baked Kale Chips | Beautiful Disasters

No, they aren’t something you could eat for lunch (as NO chip should be ate just for lunch!); they will not leave you feeling full. What they are absolutely perfect for is when you are craving something salty or just a crunchy snack. These babies will do the trick and leave you feeling food that you got your crunch and veggies in!

Baked Kale Chips

(serves 1-2)

about 5 oz. kale, cleaned and hard stems removed

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Clean and remove stems from kale. Place kale in large bowl.
  2. Drizzle olive oil over kale, sprinkle chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt over kale. Mix everything together until kale is coated with oil and spices.
  3. Arrange kale in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in preheated oven 18-20 minutes, or until crisp. Remove from oven, let cool on rack, and enjoy!

Baked Kale Chips | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: A violin contains about 70 separate pieces of wood!

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Zucchini Chips

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Oh hello there, snack numero dos for this week.

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I have been meaning to try zucchini chips for a while now. Those of you who are half as obsessed with pinterest as I am, you’ve probably heard of/seen these before. I was a little skeptical at first, but then I figured…a chip recipe that is under 100 calories if I eat the whole batch (did that), what the heck do I have to lose? A zucchini? That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

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Here’s the final verdict. These are super easy and a great snack, but you DO need to watch out for a couple things. It is possible to over-season these.

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Seriously, lay low on the seasoning or else you may find yourself wondering where the zucchini chip is under all the seasoning. The zucchini rounds shrink as they bake because they have such a high water content, so when they’re done baking you may wonder who snuck in your oven and stole half your chips…Fear not, they’re all [most likely] still there. Hopefully none of you have little zucchini chip stealing elves in your kitchen.

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P.S. Feel free to let your creativity flow in this recipe. You as much and whatever spices you like, and they’ll taste great. I was even thinking about a sweeter-dessertish chip sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, but then I realized I was dealing with zucchini and freaked myself out. Anyone out there daring enough to give the cinnamon-sugar zucchini chip a go?

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Zucchini Chips

(Serves 1)

1 medium sized zucchini, sliced thinly into 1/4″ rounds

cooking spray

2 Tablespoons paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

3 teaspoons BBQ seasoning (I used my classic recipe)

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne red pepper

1 Tablespoon sea salt

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray an oven-proof wire rack with cooking spray and place on cooking sheet. Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, combine spices except sea salt. When spices are thoroughly combined, lightly coat (be sure to not get too excited on seasoning your zucchini rounds, they shrink in the oven so your zucchini chip will not need as much seasoning as you may think) each zucchini round in spice mixture. After each piece is lightly coated, place on prepared oven-proof rack. Sprinkle sea salt over top of arranged rounds.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, watch carefully to be sure chips don’t burn. Let cool for about a minute and enjoy!

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Random Fact of the Day: Fingernails grow fastest on the hand you favor.

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