Easy Egg & Spinach Breakfast Bakes

When life starts getting really busy, I find that these egg & spinach bakes are a great way to kick off each morning with a delicious and nutritious boost to help me conquer the day. The GREATEST part about this recipe is that it cooks up in a batch so you can have them readily available to heat up for the rest of the week. And they're inexpensive to make!  Here are the INGREDIENTS:

Budget-Friendly Hamburger Lentil Vegetable Soup

This is a delicious & simple & very inexpensive recipe that you can make as your main dish chocked full of fiber and nutrients!  I'll be surprised if you pay over $10.00 for all of these ingredients. When I was interning at the health department before I became a Registered Dietitian, one of the coolest things I saw was a recipe sheet for people who received WIC benefits but didn't know what to do with the food they were getting.  With this recipe, Mom's were able to put together a nutritious meal using the dried lentils, carrots, and tomato juice they were receiving.  I put this together in a pot for some of the WIC clients to sample and it was a huge hit.  One of my favorite days of my internship.  I still make it often because it FREEZES so well (I always double the recipe because of this) and I vary between adding hamburger and eating it without any meat.

 I hope you enjoy! Makes 6 Servings

Gluten-Free Party Mix with Glutino Salted Caramel Covered Pretzels

This is such a busy time of year for me between school & getting the kids to soccer games that it is always good to have a quick snack on hand that is always tasty.  This is so incredibly easy to make and once you try the Glutino Salted Covered Pretzels, I imagine it will be hard for you to put any other sweet into the mix because it is one of the best GF pretzels and GF sweet snacks I have ever had.
 In fact, the reason why the bag looks a bit wrinkled in the picture is because I couldn't keep my kiddos away from these.  The sweet & salty of the salted caramel with the savory party mix is a wonderful combination.  Put this mix in a couple of snack size ziplock bags and if hanger hits in your family, you'll be well prepared.

THD's Stuffed Eggplant Recipe

:NOM:NOM:NOM:  I really didn't think I liked eggplant, but then we got a farm share box from our local Lowes Foods and I thought I would give it a shot because the eggplants looked really good.  Then, I noticed an unopened package of Johnsonville New Orleans Spicy Smoked Sausage Links and thought...maybe this could work?  I was SOOOOOO right!

Glutino Gluten-Free Goods- Love! Love! Love!

What is that saying...you always want what you can't have?  That is how I felt when I first tried eliminating gluten with the Fodmap diet to help identifying the foods that were causing abdominal distention/bloating in my diet.  I had tried a few "bread" products and really was not optimistic.  Then, one day, I took a leap of faith and found Glutino's Gluten-Free Bagels in the freezer section of the Food Lion by my house.  And my husband and I were so happy because they are really, really good!  I wanted to see what other GF products the Glutino company carried.  Maybe, just maybe, they would be able to answer my prayers and make a GF English muffin.  Prayers answers.  See here.  I am in love with the original premium english muffins that Glutino makes.  I am a huge fan of making my own breakfast sandwiches and generally prefer the english muffin over bread when it comes to sandwiches (especially the peanut butter and banana combo).

Green's Gluten-Free Beer- YES! YES! YES!

Growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan I have had the opportunity to be exposed to some of the finer things in life including great live music, good coffee, and the best microbreweries in the country.  I appreciate my diverse taste in beer, knowing that there are times, tastes, and places for all of the different varieties.  I have been skeptical of divulging in the Gluten-Free Beer genre because honestly, all of the ones I have tried have been "meh".  However, my thoughts, feelings, and preferences have all changed after being exposed to Green's Gluten Free Beers.  Green's GF Beers are Belgian brews that are made with millet, sorghum, buckwheat (soba), and rice.  There are no sulfites (no headaches!) and are appropriate for vegans & vegetarians.  Since I have a preference for dark and ominous brews, I was especially excited to try the Endeavor Dubbel Ale.  It is dark.

The FODMAP Diet for IBS, etc.

There are lots of people out there who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome with either diarrhea, constipation, or a combination of both.  There are some medications that can alleviate symptoms, however, there are no medications that can specifically treat the painful bloating that some people experience.  I know many, many people who can bloat out to the size of a 5-6 month pregnant female after meals and even through allergy testing, upper endoscopies, colonoscopies, various medications and digestive enzymes, nothing seems to help discover the root cause to the discomfort.

I've been watching the progression of interest in the FODMAP diet in the USA for some time now.  Dr. Sue Shepard and Dr. Peter Gibson created the FODMAP Diet in the 2000's and for many people, it has brought much comfort.

So what is a FODMAP?
FODMAP is an acronym for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols.  The idea is to limit foods that have been proven to be poorly absorbed by some people.  The foods that are limited include foods with:

Excess Fructose:  apples, pears, honey, high fructose corn syrup
Lactose:  cow milk, ice cream, cottage cheese
Fructans:  garlic, onion, brussels sprouts, watermelon
Galactans: beans, lentils, chickpeas
Polyols:  Sugar alcohols such as xylitol, maltitol, avocados, prunes