THRIVEwestern Pasta Salad!

I know it's been a while since I last posted in here, 

BUT here is a SCRUMPTIOUS recipe to make up for it!

I came across this recipe while looking for a different type of salad to try. This is what I found and this is where I found it. There are many recipes I'm sure similar but I can speak for this one and tell you it is so yummy and so fresh! I could drink the dressing just by itself. Mmm so good.

As for THRIVE products I used the BRAND new seasonings cilantro and chives, instant black beans, sweet corn.  You could also use THRIVE cheese and chicken.  

If you look at the recipe it gives enough for a large salad, I only did a half recipe and wish I would have done the full because it was so delicious and good for lunch the next day. 

I also used whole wheat noodles and since making this batch I have made it again with QUINOA and it was better in my opinion than the pasta. 

I wanted to take a close up so you could see how the beans and corn rehydrated.  

Here is a little tip with the black beans:

On the back of the can the directions say to boil over stove until rehydrated but I found them to be really mushy. SO the second time I made this, I put the beans in a bowl with some water and microwaved them little by little until they were the texture I wanted.  This way they didn't get too mushy.  I then strained them and let them cool in the freezer spread out evenly on a plate.

The corn I just rehydrate in a small bowl in warm water for 10mins or so and drained off excess water. I cooled them the same way as the beans. 

This is a new, fun salad to bring to your next potluck, or THRIVE party or just a new addition to your families weekly meals.  Add chicken and make it it's own meal!  

Green with envy Smoothie!

I know you're all probably thinking ....gross  But trust me, this is DELICIOUS and it has lots of nutrients and added fibre. It was SO easy with the THRIVE fruits.  Sometimes making smoothies can be a hassle, as much of a hassle as getting your kids to eat vegetables.  But with the THRIVE fruits it was quick and easy and guarantee your kids won't even know that they are sipping spinach through their straws. 

I promise all you taste is sweet fruit!

I made this at a THRIVE party that I did on St. Patricks's Day.  It was a HIT!

This is where I found the recipe.

 Here is what I did to incorporate THRIVE:

1 cup    THRIVE bananas 

1/2 cup THRIVE peaches

1/2 cup THRIVE mango

1/4 cup THRIVE spinach-   The THRIVE spinach is very strong so add to your taste.  You do not need very much.  You may want to add less than the 1/4 cup at first and then add to your liking.

1 cup    cold water 

*Optional add ins* 

1 cup ice 

1 cup yogurt 

THRIVE peach drink

If you do not have the listed fruits you can substitute for what you do have. If you stray away from light colored fruits, your smoothie will turn out brown and not the bright green. So keep that in mind. It will still taste good but not look as appetizing. 

Method: 

Put fruits and spinach into blender, add water and let sit for 10 min ( or until fruits starts to rehydrate)  stirring occasionally.  Add optional add ins and blend until it reaches your desired consistency.  You may need to add more liquid depending on the consistency.  

This is proof that kids DO like it!

ENJOY!

Classic Cream of Broccoli & Cheese Soup!!

If you are looking for a no fail, delicious 30 min meal..here it is!!

I'm sure lots of you fellow "THRIVERS" have already tried making a similar soup, but for those of you who haven't, I recommend giving it a try.
The THRIVE freeze dried Broccoli and Onions are perfect for this soup.
All ready cut up small and lots of flavor!  
Here is a picture of how it turned out as well as the recipe.
Enjoy!!!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 c  chicken Broth ( I used THRIVE chicken bouillon)

2 c THRIVE Broccoli

1/2 c THRIVE onions

1/2 tsp thyme 

2 Tbsp butter or margarine 

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

1 c  Milk -  THRIVE instant milk

1/2 c cheese (optional)

s&p to taste

METHOD

Combine broth, onions, broccoli and thyme. Bring mixture to a boil

Reduce heat and cook for 10-15min.  (until broccoli is tender)

It says to blend half of your soup for 30-60 seconds and then do the same to the second half, but I only blended half of my soup because I like some of the broccoli chunks left in, but you do whichever you like best.

Make sauce with the remaining ingredients.  

*how to make white sauce*

put flour and butter in a pot over medium heat.  Mix together with whisk until butter is melted and both are combined. Slowly add milk and continue to stir until thick.  ( you may need to go to medium high heat) 

When thick, add the cheese until melted.

Add vegetable mixture and heat through.  

Chicken Pot THRIVE style!!

Mmm..there's nothing better than a warm, hearty chicken pot pie on a cold day.   Well maybe just on ANY day for that matter! So that's why I wanted to find the PERFECT chicken pot pie recipe.  And this little jem did NOT disappoint.  I  came across this recipe here.  This is a fantastic blog and I will be using many more recipes from it for sure! Of course I used as much THRIVE foods as I could.  And let me tell you, it was so much more than just warm and hearty.  It was cheesy, it was saucy, it was sooo.......satisfying.
I followed the recipe pretty much to a "T".  I did cut the cheese back a little bit in the sauce ( I have a tendency of cutting out ingredients in recipes that make the recipes so good...I'm trying to be healthy but it almost always back fires on me) so in other words....add all the cheese.
Here is a pic!

This picture does not do it justice (The picture on her blog is way better)
So Instead of the fresh veggies I used all THRIVE.  I used green beans, carrots, mushrooms, and some onion. Enough to make 2 cups. You can use whatever veggies you'd like.  I threw them all into a pot with some water (enough to  cover them all) and brought it to a boil and then simmered for about 7 min until it was all rehydrated.
Then I drained the veggies and mixed it with the meat.  Ahhh...no washing or chopping. Just throwing into a pot.  So nice.

I was so excited to use the CHEESE! How crazy is that, freeze dried cheese! But it is so good to just eat right out of the can.  So I used this instead of fresh grated cheese and it was great! I rehydrated it in cold water ( learned the hard way that you don't do it in hot water...) for about 10 min until it is no longer crunchy. It won't melt properly if you don't let it rehydrate all the way.  Then I drained it and used it like regular cheese in the recipe.  So fun to try it.

Hope you enjoy!!

THEY SURVIVED!!

I was so happy that Mike made it home safe!! As well as all the  boys. You know how those Scout Camps can go sometimes...I had every right to worry.  Just kidding, Mike said they had a great time! From the looks of the pictures they had tons of fun.  Here are just a few pics of them (eating THRIVE of course) I made sure Mike took some pictures, and I have to say he did a pretty good job!!

The Thriving Scouts!!

 I am sooo excited to do this post!! My husband and I had so much fun with this.
Tomorrow my husband is leaving with his scouts for almost 4 DAYS on a winter camp!!!!! So not excited about him being gone but I know they'll have fun, and they will be totally eating like kings!  Because almost all of their meals will be completely THRIVE!!! WOOHOO!! Light weight, healthy, and all they need is water  (hoping there would be more snow for them to melt...) How perfect is this food for campers and hikers??
We came up with some recipes, and with trial and error we got the measurements just right and then put all the ingredients into a ziploc bag so all they have to do is open it and pour into a pan or pot with water.
So the recipes I've written out are enough for one person.  Mike put enough for 2 boys per bag which is nice because it's less bags to worry about.
I will post all the recipes under each picture  (If it is not a THRIVE product I will specify, otherwise everything else is Freeze Dried THRIVE)
Here is their meal plan:

• Wednesday night they are doing steaks ( Of course they have to have their steaks out in the wilderness to make them feel like real men.....or something like that )
• Thurs breakfast- Scrambled egg omelet 
• Thurs Supper-Mac and cheese with THRIVE milk powder
• Friday breakfast-  oatmeal with strawberries
• Friday lunch-on trail 
• Friday supper- Chicken and rice
• Sat breakfast-either oatmeal or eggs
• Sat lunch-Ichiban with THRIVE veggie medly

Take this Hot Dogs!!!

SCRAMBLED EGG OMELET

1/4c     Powdered egg (this was not THRIVE egg but THRIVE does have egg powder)
1 Tbsp   Ham TVP
1 Tbsp   Sausage (real or TVP)
1 Tsp    Mushroom
1/2 Tsp  Chopped Onion
1 Tsp    Spinach
1 Tsp    Peppers
1 Tbsp   Cheese


I followed the instructions for the powdered eggs that was on the package we had which was to put into pot of water and cook like scrambled eggs.  So we just added the veggies and cheese with the egg powder into the water and here's how it turned out.  SO GOOD!! I was impressed with how good powdered egg was.

STRAWBERRY OATMEAL

  3/4c   Quick oats

 2 Tbsp Strawberries

 2 Tbsp Blackberries

 1 Tbsp Brown sugar

 1 tbsp Powder Milk

Put in pot with 1 1/2 c water, bring to a boil and cook to desired consistency. YUM!

This is like dessert for breakfast.  

Chicken and Rice

1 tsp  Chicken bouillon 

2/3 c  Instant rice

1Tbsp  TVP chicken

1Tbsp  Sausage

3Tbsp  Grn. Beans

1Tbsp  Sweet corn

1Tsp   Chopped onion

salt and pepper to taste

Mix 1 cup water with veggies,meat, and

bouillon. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 min, add rice and lower heat to medium high and cook covered for about 5 min or until veggies are hydrated and rice is soft.  

This was SO tasty! The bouillon gives this so much flavour. Mike and I couldn't get enough. This would totally hit the spot while on a miserable cold camp.  

So then there is the KD with the Milk powder and Ichiban with the veggies. I really  hope these boys are not going to be dissapointed with the food. There is unlimited possibilities with more meals that would be versatile for camping, hiking, ect.  Hope you enjoy!

THRIVE Goulash Soup!

This is a great, simple soup that my Mom told me about. She made it for a church function and it took her no time at all to make and it fed a lot of people.  This is so versatile! It is just a basic soup but there are tons of different variations you could do. 

So here are the THRIVE foods that I used:

FD Green Beans

FD Chopped Onions

FD Celery 

FD Broccoli

FD Potato cubes

Beef TVP ( textured vegetable protein)

I put about a 1/4 cup of each vegetable and 1/2 cup of the Beef TVP into a pot of chicken or beef broth.  I put about 4-5 cups of beef broth in as well as a tsp of Thyme and salt and pepper. You need to make sure that you put in extra liquid because the vegetables will soak up some of the liquid.  I left the potatoes out until the very end because they tend to go a little bit mushy if they simmer too long, so add in for the last 15 min.  

Bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for at least 15min.   The vegetables need at least that amount of time to rehydrate and become soft.  

I let it simmer for about 35 min so all the flavours could come together.

YUM!!!

It tastes just as good as it looks!

It's amazing how these vegetables look and taste like they are fresh.

I had hardly any mess to clean up, no chopping, and we were still getting the same nutrients that we would be getting from fresh veggies. 

My 2 year old gobbled this up and my husband, who is not a soup lover, even enjoyed it.  

These vegetables can last up to 25 years on your shelf unopened and 1-2 years opened. 

This is what I can make out of my food storage!

What about you??

Enjoy!