Copycat Moe's Burrito Bowl

September 30, 2017

One of my favorite meals (and one of my most requested recipes) is luau pulled pork. We make a slow cooker full of it and then freeze it in small containers. I love that you can freeze it and yet when it thaws out it still tastes just as good as the day it was made. We make so many different dishes with it: pulled pork over rice, pulled pork sandwiches, pork nachos, pork enchiladas, pork pizza. You name it, we probably make it with this recipe. Tonight I wanted to make a play off of a burrito bowl. Every time we go to Moe's or Chipotle, you can bet I'm ordering a burrito bowl! But first, you need to start with the pork.

To your slow cooker, add 1/2 cup of apple cider. You can use apple juice and I've even used water in a pinch. Although the apple does add flavor to the pork. Next, put in a pork roast. I think we usually buy the shoulder cut. I always buy as big a piece of pork as my slow cooker can handle. I'd guess around 13 pounds. Put it fat side up. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of kosher salt (regular salt is fine too) all over the top of the pork. Pour 2 tablespoons of liquid smoke all over the salted pork. Cover and cook on low. My slow cooker takes about 12 hours to get the pork real tender. I like to get it going in the evening, let it cook overnight, and then in the morning it is ready for me to pull.  Once the pork is cooked, it will be very tender. You just need to shred it with a fork and pull out any remaining fat. Very easy, few ingredients, and you won't believe the flavor!

Ok, back to dinner. I threw some jasmine rice into my rice cooker. Once it was done, I wanted to add some flavor. I put probably about a teaspoon of olive oil into a bowl and added two drops of Young Living's Lime Vitality Essential Oil. I love all of the health benefits of using essential oils and cooking with them is an easy way to use them. Lime is great for your digestive, immune, and respiratory systems. I chopped up cilantro and then added the oil and the cilantro to the rice. I sautéed onion, green peppers, and mushrooms in coconut oil. I kept the seasonings simple and just used salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Everyone got to build their own plate using whatever ingredients they preferred. I had a bed of romaine and spinach, sautéed onions/green peppers/mushrooms, cilantro lime rice, pulled pork, homemade salsa, sour cream, avocado, and queso.

Dinner was delicious! My daughter cleaned her plate before I was even half way done and she said "mmmm the rice was really good"! We all agreed this is definitely a make again dinner. If you have other ideas on how to use pulled pork, leave a comment below!

*Note: I can only speak to the safety of ingesting Young Living's Vitality line of essential oils*

Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

September 21, 2017

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the week: farmer's market day! This of course means one thing. I have to use up a bunch of veggies I still have so that I can buy more fresh deliciousness tomorrow. Ha! One of my favorite meals to make either the night before farmer's market day or the day before I go grocery shopping is stir fry. You don't need a recipe. You don't need any certain veggies. You don't need any certain meat. Use up what you got.

Tonight we had onion, leek, celery, green pepper (a little wilty but nobody will notice once it's cooked up), mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and chicken. The leeks, green pepper, carrots, and chicken was all from last week's farmer's market. Fresh and local has so much flavor. I can't wait until next year and I get my garden back. There is nothing more satisfying than harvesting after you have worked in the garden all summer. Love it! Ok, back to dinner.... My hubby seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, and ginger. Once everything was pretty much cooked he asked if I wanted to add in any essential oils.  Hmmmm. Yep! I grabbed my bottle of Young Living's Ginger Vitality essential oil (which is safe to ingest) and just added two drops to a bowl of teriyaki sauce. You don't need to add much to get a really great burst of flavor. I looked into the health benefits of ginger. Of course, like every oil, there is a LIST of things that it can help support. It was so fitting when I saw that it can help with discomfort from teething (my hubby had to get a tooth fixed today at the dentist and he is feeling pretty tender) and good for muscle support (I went to the gym and had leg day after taking about four months off). We finished dinner off with just some steamed jasmine rice.

It's time to curl up on the couch and sip on something warm: Thieves tea. If you are wanting a boost to your immune system, join me! I played around with what I all put in it and finally came up with the perfect cup. I start with a splash of carmel coffee creamer, a squeeze of local honey, one drop of Lemon Vitality essential oil, one drop of Thieves Vitality essential oil, hot water, and two spoons of spiced chai tea mix. The creamer and honey help the oils to disperse throughout the tea. Yu-u-um.

*Note: I can only speak to the safety of ingesting Young Living's Vitality line of essential oils.*

Cranberry Turkey Grilled Sandwich

September 20, 2017

It's always a challenge for us to pass up eating at a restaurant when we have to run errands. The one tip I have for you is to try to recreate some of your restaurant favorites to make eating at home more appealing. We had to run a couple of errands today and came back home starving for lunch. I know if I had not planned on this special lunch, we would've given in and eaten elsewhere.

What did we make? There is a turkey sandwich at a restaurant back home that I absolutely LOVE. My parents visited us earlier this month and my mom recreated that sandwich for me. Now it is my turn to recreate my mom's recreation. Ha!

Another tip for cooking in general, is to make each ingredient shine on it's own and then once it all comes together, it will be amazing!

I started out with a cranberry swirl bread. Yum! It has so much more flavor than just using white bread, although you certainly could. I took some honey pecan flavored cream cheese and added some of Young Living's Rosemary Essential Oil from their Vitality line. It is safe to ingest and it is so awesome to be able to get the flavor of rosemary without having to feel like you are chewing on little sticks. Ha! I probably put a few tablespoons of cream cheese in a bowl. I dipped a toothpick into my bottle of essential oil and then swirled the toothpick into the cream cheese. I did two toothpick dips (clean toothpick each time!). Spread the cream cheese on your bread. Next up, cranberry sauce. Spread it like jelly onto the cream cheese. I only put the cranberry sauce on one slice of the bread. Then add some fresh spinach. So much more flavor than just lettuce. Layer on some oven roasted turkey breast and swiss cheese. Butter the outsides of the bread and toast them up like a grilled cheese sandwich until golden brown.

I hope you are ready for the deliciousness that is about to hit your face. Lunch at home has never tasted so good.

*Note: I can only vouch for the safety of ingesting Young Living's Vitality essential oils*

The Essential Mini Meatloaf Recipe

September 19, 2017

There is nothing better than shopping local. I love going to the farmer's market and loading up. Veggies, fruit, eggs, beef, pork, jerky sticks, tomatoes for canning...you name it, I get it. I was able to use a few local ingredients in our dinner tonight. I used local beef and eggs for the mini meatloaves and yellow beans as a side. I was trying to figure out the other side item and the kids just wouldn't budge off of wanting macaroni and cheese. Oh well. Life is about balance.

I took our go to recipe for mini meatloaves and gave it a little updating. I wanted to fit in some extra health benefits by using some of Young Living's essential oils from their Vitality line (which is safe to ingest). I wanted to add in some support for our immune, respiratory, and digestive systems.

The four of us love mini meatloaves so I use a bigger recipe. This is one meal that we don't mind leftovers!

For the meatloaves:
2 lbs ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 eggs
3 drops Basil Vitality Essential Oil
3 drops Thyme Vitality Essential Oil
1 drop Oregano Vitality Essential Oil
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup tomato Sauce

For the sauce:
1 cup tomato sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
parsley (about a palmful)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

To top:
french fried onions

Mix the Essential Oils with the egg and then added all of the meatloaf ingredients together. Shape into 8 loaves. Place them on a baking sheet covered in tinfoil and sprayed with a little non-stick spray. Bake in an oven preheated to 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Then pour the sauce over the meatloaves and top with some french fried onions. Bake for another 5 minutes.

My hubby and I both really liked the meatloaves with the essential oils. They give SO much flavor! However, it was a tad much for my daughter's tastes. I think next time I would try cutting back on the Thyme and Basil to 2 drops each. I'm telling you, a little goes a long way when you cook with essential oils but you just won't believe the difference in flavor from using dried herbs to essential oils. The flavor alone is reason enough to use them but once you think about the added benefits of supporting your body's health systems- it makes me want to convert all of our recipes! I have a few ideas already and I can't wait to figure out more!

*Note: I ONLY can speak for the safety of ingesting Young Living's Vitality oils*