Crock Pot Irish Beef Stew & Cheddar Herb Dumplings

March 11, 2015 Amanda Plott

I'm an Irish girl, what can I say? If I can find an excuse to cook with bourbon and beer, I'll find it! The idea for this dish actually came from my love of St. Patrick's Day and also my love of these Healthified Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings, which I made a bit over a year ago and many many times since then.

I basically took the same structure of the Chicken & Dumpling recipe and made it into a hearty Irish inspired Beef & Dumpling recipe instead. This stew is packed full of bold flavor and lots and lots of chunky beef and vegetables. I promise, you won't feel like you're eating anything healthified, but you are. It's definitely a meal in a bowl.

Who knew that Beef & Dumplings would just as awesome as Chicken & Dumplings?

I wasn't sure this would work out, but in the end I'm extremely happy that I tempted the fates with this one...

Vanilla Bean Yogurt Panna Cotta

March 9, 2015 Amanda Plott

This post was brought to you by Collective Bias, Inc. and it's advertiser. I received compensation to write this post … but, all opinions expressed are my own. #MullerMoment #CollectiveBias

It has been a really exhausting few weeks for me full of nothing but bad news, and of course with any stressful time in life it's always very important to make some time out for yourself, and to really focus on YOU. My stress relief often comes in the form of creating wonderful treats and eats in my kitchen. So, I decided to make a really easy and delicious vanilla bean yogurt panna cotta to indulge in this week without any judgement!

To make this panna cotta I used the new Müller® Ice Cream Inspired Yogurt, which happens to come in three great tasting flavors; Raspberry Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip and Vanilla Bean. Not only is this ice cream inspired yogurt great for recipes, it's also an ideal on-the-go snack or breakfast option!

These yogurts fit perfectly into my 'better-for-you' lifestyle with 6% milk fat yogurt, 7 grams of protein, less sugar than other yogurts, and only 190-210 calories in a serving...

Skinny Lean & Green Cauliflower Colcannon

March 6, 2015 Amanda Plott

A while back I had made this yummy Cauliflower & Hominy Smash as a lower carb and lighter alternative to mashed potatoes, and trust me... it is so sooo good. So, when I was trying to come up with a way to make a traditional Irish colcannon healthier, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.

Don't know what Colcannon is? Colcannon is basically an Irish dish that's made out of smashed potatoes with green cabbage and/or kale with cream, butter, salt and pepper. For this recipe, I basically used the same idea of the Cauliflower & Hominy Smash, but added in some kale and green cabbage to sort of combine the two ideas into one...

Green Eggs & Ham

March 4, 2015 Amanda Plott

In honor of Dr. Seuss's 111th birthday being earlier this week, and with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I decided to make a play on Green Eggs & Ham!

“Try them, try them, and you may! Try them and you may, I say.”
― Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham

St. Patrick's Day is actually one of my favorite holidays, and it also happens to be my dad's birthday. Happy Pre-Birthday, Daddy! My dad always thought it was fun to make Green Eggs & Ham for breakfast around his birthday. So, the idea for my take on Green Eggs & Ham was definitely inspired by him, even though I'm pretty sure that you makes his a whole lot differently...

Whole Wheat Broccoli Rabe & Ricotta White Pizza

March 2, 2015 Amanda Plott

I haven't had broccoli too many times in my life. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the amount of times that I've eaten it. Now, that isn't to say that I don't like it. No, no, no. That isn't the case at all. It's just that rapini was never something that my parents cooked, so I guess it just never became a part of my personal food culture.

For a while now, I've been playing off and on with an raw food service that offers delivery of organic whole groceries directly from their farmers and/or local businesses to your house. Pretty nifty, right? Well, I always like to get their 'local box' which is loaded with different local seasonal produce each week. It's fun because I have gotten a lot of interesting new things to try. It's a fun little challenge for me as a home cook.

What can I say? I watch a lot of Chopped...

Vegan Cauliflower Rice Taco Bowls

February 26, 2015 Amanda Plott

A while back I came across the idea of cauliflower rice. At first I was a bit skeptical, but after the first time I tried it, I knew it would be an instant hit. I've made it several times now and somehow it just never manages to make it here, for one reason or another.

I knew that I wanted to make the cauliflower rice to go in some sort of taco bowl, but wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go with it beyond that. Then I remember that I had made this green goddess dressing a while back, and absolutely fell in love with it. I kept trying to think of other ways in which to use it and finally came to the conclusion that the most of the ingredients in it would make for a perfect cilantro lime avocado dressing.

Aha! Perfect to go with my cauliflower rice bowl!

Once I had some of the basics nailed down, I let my local produce for the week speak for me and I ended up with a veggie-full bowl of wonderfulness...