Naked Power

Today I have a fun post sponsored by Naked’s new Power Garden juices.

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I’m not particularly a fan of hiding fruits or veggies in other foods, because it’s so often done in a deceitful manner to deceive kids. I don’t like lying about what’s in foods, but I definitely love maximizing the nutrition of my favorite recipes. It’s why I put zucchini, pumpkin, or carrots in muffins, apples in oatmeal, loads of veggies in pasta sauce, and spinach in smoothies.

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Naked is known for their juices and smoothies that pack pounds of fruits and veggies in a single bottle. Their new line, Power Garden, has two flavors loaded with the good stuff: Tomato Kick and Berry Veggie.

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Ahem… I may or may not be sitting on a porch with a bunch of helpful toddlers…

As I was saying, Naked asked a few of us to create some recipes using their pumped up juices. I’ve probably mentioned 5,495.394 times that I hate tomatoes, so I was pretty sure I would use the Berry juice for my recipe, but once I got to thinking, I decided to embrace the challenge and use the Tomato Kick juice.

The result? Pretty snazzy:

enchilada sauce-9021

Slightly spicy meets cilantro-citrus infused enchilada sauce, made with Naked’s Tomato Kick juice- a fun way to add in an extra dose of veggies. A great way to jazz up your favorite enchilada recipe. Complements these pineapple-laced enchiladas quite well!

Orange Enchilada Sauce

by with a Side of Sneakers

 

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp butter {vegan or regular}
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons chili powder
  • 12 oz tomato paste
  • 1 1/4 cup Naked Tomato Kick juice
  • 3/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 garlic cloves minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • salt to taste

Instructions

Bring sauce pan to medium heat. Melt butter then stir in cornstarch. Add Tomato Kick juice and whisk until combined, then add tomato paste and remaining ingredients.

Once thouroughly combined, reduce heat to low and simmer about ~10 minutes or until sauce slightly thickens.

Serve over your favorite enchiladas and top with orange zest.

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Check back Monday June 17th to learn about The Naked Power Garden Pinterest Sweepstakes.

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Power Garden is Naked Juice’s new veggie drink lineup with 1lb. of veggies in every bottle*.  With delicious flavors that only Naked could blend, Power Garden offers one of the easiest ways to get your daily servings of veggies and fruits, along with good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Learn more at “>”>http://
www.nakedjuice.com/veggiedrinks.  *weight of vegetables, prior to juicing

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Naked via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Naked.

What’s your favorite way to pump up the veggie content of a recipe?

Vegan Queso Blanco

While I’ve never been a huge dairy eater, there are a few dairy-based goods on my list that I consider essentials to a well-rounded diet. {Ok, not essential. But absolutely delicious!}

1. Goat cheese. Any form, any flavor.

2. Greek Yogurt, especially with honey.

3. Queso Blanco, the ultimate Mexican cheese dip.

Vegan queso blanco dip recipe - dairy free, gluten free.

Well, whatever little dairy eating I did do has completely gone out the window. My 11 month old {gasp!} 1 year old {!!} son is allergic to dairy, soy, and a handful of other delicious foods. Because I’m nursing him, that means those foods are off limits to me. Most of the time I’m pretty grown up about the whole ordeal- I don’t complain and I don’t really miss those three delicious dairy favorites above. It’s a lot easier to handle something maturely when it’s for your child.

But then there are days. Days where I’m all “woe is me” and “this sucks” and “damn it I just want some cheese dip”.

Nachos with cheese dip are kind of a tradition around these parts. When the husband and I first moved to the area, we lived in a tiny apartment across the street from a shopping center. In true young newlywed fashion, we were totally broke, jobless, and more than pinching our pennies. Every once in a while, as a special celebration, we’d treat ourselves to our favorite Mexican takeout from the shopping center. Eventually it became a Sunday tradition: football and nachos smothered in heavenly queso blanco. But remember I said we were broke? We compromised by concocting our own nacho monstrosities, complete with beer-laced gooey cheese dip.

vegan queso blanco

Five years and a child later, we still have our Sunday tradition. For awhile we skipped over it, but there’s just something about sticking with those early marriage traditions. At first I just skipped the dip part, but I was seriously missing out. Until I came up with this gem of a dip: a dairy free {and completely vegan and soy free} queso blanco dip. Dairy-free cheese dip? Say it isn’t so.

Vegan Queso Blanco {Dairy Free}

by with a Side of Sneakers

 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Original
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • ½ cup dark Mexican beer (or sub vegetable broth or additional milk)
  • 1/2 jalapeno, diced
  • ¼ cup white onion, minced
  • ½ tsp smoked cumin
  • ¼ tsp lime juice
  • 1 cup vegan/dairy free mozzarella cheese (such as Daiya)
  • Whole grain corn tortilla chips or sliced veggies (for dipping)

Instructions

Sauté onion and jalapeno in a small saucepan over medium heat until the onion starts to brown, about 3-5 minutes.

Stir in almond milk and cornstarch until well combined.

Whisk occasionally until mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.

Whisk in beer, cumin, or lime juice.

Add in vegan cheese. Stir thoroughly until cheese melts and forms a smooth mixture. Add more cheese for a thicker dip; less for a more pourable cheese (to top nachos, etc.).

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This dairy free cheese dip is only 107 calories per serving- a 15 calorie savings over skim milk and a vast improvement over traditional restaurant-style Mexican queso blanco!

This dip also tastes great with Pepper Jack style vegan cheese instead of mozzarella, especially when served over black bean smothered nachos. The beer provides a rich and intense depth of flavor and gives you a great excuse to finish the rest of the bottle with your dip! Feel free to use vegetable broth or additional almond milk if you prefer to not to use beer.

This recipe was developed for Silk for a Fitfluential campaign. You can find other great recipes using Silk Pure Almond on their Facebook page.

 

Click here for more Gluten Free Dairy Free Recipes that won’t leave you trapped in the kitchen for hours or hunting down a million bizarre ingredients.

Chipotle Burritos

Baby stuff will come, I promise, but for now, a recipe. Smile

It’s no coincidence last week’s menu was full of Chipotle-influenced Mexican foods- cilantro lime rice, homemade salsa, roasted corn salsa, chipotle-marinated tofu…

I had an ulterior motive. Chipotle burritos. At home.

Mission accomplished.

chipotle burrito

The key is starting with a big, pliable flour tortilla. Yes, that means I used a regular ol’ flour tortilla. No whole wheat here. {But hey, I went with brown rice, so it’s all good.}

Lightly warm the tortilla so it’s nice and flexible.

Then pile on the cilantro lime rice. {See Chipotle copycat rice recipe here.}

cilantro lime rice

Followed by black beans mixed with a little bit of cumin.

black beans in burrito

Then a scoop of chipotle-marinated tofu or chicken.

mexican tofu

Next up, some red hot homemade salsa roja…

homemade salsa

…and a scoop of roasted poblano corn salsa for good measure.

roasted corn salsa

Now that’s a burrito.

chipotle burrito copy cat

Gently fold in the edges, then roll the sides up. Tuck the open flap on the bottom.

chipotle style burrito

Garnish with cilantro, and dig in.

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Feel free to add sour cream or cheese or anything else you normally like on your burrito too.

Enough burritos. Back to my little bundle. Winking smile

 

If you like this, try it with some Moe’s Queso Blanco!

Cilantro Lime Rice, Chipotle Style

Do you know what one of the most requested fast food copycat recipes is?

Chipotle rice.

chipotle rice recipe copycat

That yummy, fluffy, white rice loaded with rich Mexican flavors of lime and cilantro.

Luckily, it’s probably the easiest fast food recipe to replicate- and not so bad on the health scale either, especially if you swap in brown rice.

First you have to know how to cook rice to give it that great restaurant quality texture. This isn’t the time time for instant, 5 minute, or boil-in-bag rice. It’s time for the real deal. I promise it’s worth it.

brown basmati rice

The traditional method to cook rice is to match the liquid to rice ratio of 2-1.5 to 1; bring to a boil; then simmer until the water is absorbed, often up to an hour.

It works fine, but you often end up with wet, heavy, gummy rice. No way you’re matching Chipotle’s style with that.

Instead, try this:

How to Cook Fluffy Rice {without a rice cooker}

It’s as easy as spaghetti! Bring a pot of water to boil. Add desired rice quantity. Boil uncovered for 40 minutes. Drain rice {just enough to get rid of excess water- don’t try to completely drain.} So far it’s just like cooking pasta.

Put rice back in pot and cover. Let sit off the heat for 10 minutes. The final 10 minutes allows the rice to steam in the remaining moisture. When it’s done, you’ll have fluffy, light, airy, rice- even when making the traditionally heavier brown rice. Easy!

how to cook brown rice

Now that you know how to cook rice perfectly, let’s make it Chipotle style. Like I said, beyond easy.

I like to use brown basmati rice for this recipe, but if you must, go ahead and use white basmati rice.

Cilantro Lime Rice | Chipotle Rice

by Heather Neal

Keywords: entree side vegan vegetarian Southwest Mexican

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked brown basmati rice
  • 1 Tbsp lime juice
  • 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together and serve.

See above for the best method of how to cook brown basmati rice.

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P.S. The winner of the Nasoya tofu giveaway is….

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Email your info so you can get your prize!

 

Also, don’t miss my 36 week pregnancy update on tiny sneakers!

Refried Burritoladas

Based on our annual salsa consumption in this house, I’m thinking it’d be smart to start investing in restaurant-sized tubs of the stuff. Or in Old El Paso’s stock.

Not that we really needed an excuse, but I thought it might be nice to eat the stuff on something different for a change. Like enchiladas. Sure, they already have sauce, but I was sure they’d be even better with salsa.

I was right. Although what came out of my kitchen was more burrito-like. Somewhere between an enchilada and burrito. We’ll say it’s a burritolada.

Filled with refried beans, brown rice, and onion, these guys are sure to fill you up and satisfy you’re need for copious amounts of Mexican food.

homemade enchiladas

At first glance, they look like my black bean pineapple enchiladas. I assure you they’re not. {Those are still my all time fave.}

homemade burritos

My secret to delicious enchiladas without the cheese lies in the broiler. A few minutes on high to get a nice crispy, brownish crust, and they go from good to awesome.

enchilada recipe

With a nice pile of bell peppers cooked in Worcestershire sauce and cumin. You could opt to put these in the burritos if you wanted, but mine never would’ve rolled up. I like them on their own anyway.

enchiladas

Now comes the fun part: the toppings.

burritos

Salsa, jalapeno, and cilantro on mine, salsa, jalapeno, and sour cream for the husband. Much like our crock pot baked potatoes. Winking smile

I’m not convinced I like cilantro.

salsa and jalapenos

 

Refried Burritoladas

Refried Burritoladas

Ingredients

  • 10 whole wheat tortilla shells
  • 2 cups brown rice
  • 2 14.5 oz cans of vegetarian refried beans
  • 2 Tbsp low sodium taco seasoning
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 3 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 3 Tbsp water
  • 1 14.5 oz can enchilada sauce
  • Optional toppings: salsa, jalapenos, cilantro

Instructions

  1. Prepare rice according to package directions.
  2. Saute onion on medium high heat until starts to brown.
  3. Stir in tomato paste and water. Let cook for a few minutes, then mix into cooked rice.
  4. Fill tortilla shells with a little bean mixture followed by some rice mixture.
  5. Fold the ends in, then roll up. Place seam side down in greased baking dish.
  6. Repeat for all enchiladas.
  7. Cover with enchilada sauce, making sure to cover as much of the tortilla as possible.
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
  9. For the last 3 minutes, crank broiler up to high. Cook until tops start to bubble or brown.
https://www.sideofsneakers.com/homemade-enchiladas/

Are you a burrito person or an enchilada person? I’m not a fan of restaurant enchiladas at all, which is weird considering the amount I go through at home.

 


Find out what we did or didn’t decide about finding out the baby’s sex this afternoon on tiny sneakers!