Black Beans & Rice w/ Chicken and Apple Salsa

I made this for dinner last night.  I grilled the chicken on my George Foreman for the rest of the family, but I skipped the chicken and put the apple salsa right on top of the beans and rice.  They wouldn't try the apple salsa, so there was plenty left over for my lunch today.  Yummy!
Here's the link to the recipe over at ourbestbites.com.

Healthy Fudge

       Each time I go to the health food store I've been buying a few things to try. Lately I've tried Larabars, coconut butter, lentils, chopped dates, almond milk, collard greens, carob powder and beets.  All things I've never eaten in my life!

       The collard greens, chopped dates, almond milk and beets went in various smoothies.  The lentils were for this yummy Sloppy Joe recipe. The coconut butter and the carob powder (along with some other things) all went into this tasty fudge.  I'm having so much fun finding new things that I like and that my family likes as well.

  

If you want to try something tasty and good for you, try this healthy fudge recipe.  That said, Fudge is not a vegetable.  Show some restraint.

 Healthy Fudge Recipe

2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained (or 3 cups if you cook your own beans)

1/2 cup coconut butter or coconut spread (I used Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread)

1/2 cup plus 2 TB honey

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup carob powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 cup chopped cashews

Put everything but the cashews into a food processor and process until smooth.  (I don't have a food processor, so I used my BlendTec blender to mash up the beans and then I scooped them into my Kitchen Aid mixer to combine.)

Stir in the cashews.  Spread into a 8x8 pan and refrigerate for one hour.

Cut into pieces.

If you're not going to eat it all within a few days. (And I hope you don't!) Then wrap fudge pieces in freezer wrap and store individually in freezer. 

Guaranteed to satisfy a chocolate craving!

Find the  original recipe and more healthy recipes here at simplynaturalhealth.com.

A little something about coconut oil: 
Coconut oil is very useful in reducing weight.  It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzyme systems. Further, it increases the body's metabolism by removing stress on the pancreas, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.

Beans are your friend

I was watching a web broadcast by Dr. Fuhrman yesterday. He's the one who wrote the book Eat to Live that really inspired me to change what I eat. I was thinking that the reason that more people don't eat like he does is because eating the nutritarian way is just too big of a change to make all at once like he suggests. The way he eats really makes sense, but eating is more than just what we put in our mouths. We have traditions that revolve around food. We eat certain things out of habit. We eat because it makes us feel good, etc. To change our diet completely would be like moving to another country and culture. In the web broadcast Dr. Fuhrman said that to be healthy, everyone should make sure the following 6 things were in their diet daily.
1/2 cup beans
3 fresh fruits
1 oz raw nuts and seeds
1 large salad
1 large serving steamed green vegetables
some mushrooms or onions every day
Even these 6 things would be a huge change for some people, so I was thinking what if you just chose one of these things to add to your diet for a week or 2 and then pick another to work on.
Just a thought. So my goal this week is to add more beans. Beans are good real food.  You just have to find some that you like. Today I chose garbanzo. I had leftover stir-fry in my fridge, so for lunch today I threw 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans in the stir-fry and heated it up. And it was yummy. I also bought that bean soup mix that I always see. You just add water and whatever else vegetable-ish that you want to throw in. Has anyone ever tried it?
Beans are fiber and nutrient packed and actually contain a wider variety of healthy nutrients than most foods. These include calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, magnesium, folate, and alpha-linolenic acid. They also have anti-cancer benefits against breast and prostate cancers.