Mexican Ranchero Sauce

My husband and I love bean burritos covered in ranchero sauce. It's one of our favorite Mexican dishes! I experimented recently until I came up with a recipe that is delicious and my husband gave a thumbs up which means that he was so busy savoring each bite that he couldn't use his words!

You'll Need:
4 cups vegetable stock
4 Roma tomatoes
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, finely diced
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pablano pepper, seeded, finely diced
2 tbs olive oil
4 oz tomato paste
2 tbs cornstarch or arrowroot powder

Place the tomatoes into boiling water for 15-30 seconds until skin starts to crack. Remove tomatoes from water and remove skins. Dice tomatoes. Put all ingredients except for the cornstarch into a sauce pan and simmer for 45 minutes then add the cornstarch and simmer for another 10-15 minutes until sauce has reached desired consistency.

Serve with your favorite Mexican dish and enjoy! I added links below for my recipes for homemade refried beans and also guacamole.

Homemade "Refried" Beans
Quick and Easy Guac

Garlic and Herb Salad Dressing

This is one of those salad dressings that'll leave your breath smelling rather strong but it's soooo good!

You'll Need:
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbs olive oil
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano

Place all ingredients into a mason jar, stir, and seal tightly with a lid. Allow to sit in refrigerator for 1 hour before serving.

DIY All Natural Soft Scrub

I have tried so many different DIY soft scrubs and finally came up with my own recipe that works really well in our house (and it smells amazing too!)

Here's what you'll need:
3 tbs castile soap
1 cup baking soda
10 drops doterra's lemon or grapefruit essential oil
Enough water to make it the consistency of paste that you prefer

Stir ingredients together and then pour into a squirt bottle!

I love how refreshing this smells and it works great for the toilet bowl, shower, or stove top! The best part?? You aren't using harsh and dangerous cleaners to clean your home!

Salad with Grains and Grapefruit Salad Dressing

This salad is crisp and so refreshing with a twist of citrus - absolutely delicious! 

Ancient Grains:
1 cup red quinoa, rinsed
1/2 cup white quinoa, rinsed
3 cups water
1 drop of Doterra's Rosemary essential oil OR 1 tsp dried Rosemary
1 drop of Doterra's Basil essential oil OR 1 tsp dried basil
2 drops of Doterra's Lime essential oil OR the juice from 1 lime
2 tbs minced dry onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
sea salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into a medium size pan and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, then simmer for 15 minutes.

Grapefruit Salad Dressing:
Juice from 1 grapefruit
Juice from 1 orange
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs agave (or honey)
Dash of sea salt

Place all ingredients into a mason jar and stir.

Salad Mix:
You can combine any kind of salad ingredients but here is what I used because it's what I had on hand.
1 container baby kale
1 head of leafy lettuce, roughly chopped
1 head of red lettuce, roughly chopped
2 handfuls of baby Bella mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 bunch of green onions, chopped

Top your salad with the grains and garnish with veggies and/or guacamole (click here for a yummy guac recipe), and then drizzle the grapefruit salad dressing over it. Hope you enjoy this nutritious salad as much as I did!

Back to School Breakfast Ideas

          No matter how well we plan for it, back to school is hard. For us parents and for our children. I struggle with sadness over how quickly the summer went by and now my kids are going to be gone ALL DAY. My heart can't handle it. And our kids have to readjust to being inside for most of the day, sitting behind a desk, after the freedom of summer break. It's just not easy.
          With school beginning before we know it, we don't just need to plan for school supply shopping and new clothes. We also need to be thinking about how we are going to arm our children's immune systems for the exposure to all the germs and the upcoming changes in weather. And sending our children to school after breakfasting on processed foods and sugars is not the best strategy for helping our children excel in the classroom. What you feed your children before school matters! So, I am listing below several recipes for easy breakfast ideas that are great for those busy school mornings. I will share tips and tricks that worked well for our family last year during the school year. Bless you moms and dads and your dear children as you ready yourselves for the busyness of another school year!


Peanut Butter Granola - this recipe is one that can be made ahead of time on the weekend so that on those busy school mornings, you can just pour a half cup into a cereal bowl, sprinkle in some raisins, and pour almond milk in for a delicious bowl of granola cereal. My kids love this!


Fluffy Vegan Pancakes - I will make about 6 batches of these at a time and freeze them. These are a huge hit at our house. There are so many different add-in ideas to give you a variety of pancakes. I'll list our favorites. Just pull some out of the freezer the night before to thaw in the fridge and heat them up in the morning and serve with some fresh fruit!
*Oatmeal cookie pancakes - add 1 tsp of apple pie seasoning and a half cup of raisins to batter
*Lemon blueberry - add 1 tsp of lemon zest OR 3 drops of Doterra's lemon essential oil and half of a cup of fresh blueberries to batter
*Choc chip pancakes - add half of a cup of nondairy semi-sweet mini chocolate chips to batter
*Peanut butter banana - add half of a mashed banana and 1/4 cup natural peanut butter to batter



Apple Raisin Muffins - these muffins freeze really well! We love these muffins, they are so yummy! Just pop a thawed muffin onto a plate, add a bit of fresh fruit, and you've got a breakfast of champions.


Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins - these muffins also freeze well and are a favorite at our house!


Blueberry Scones - these are delicious and they also freeze well!


Greens Smoothie - if you are making this for your kids, I would not add the matcha powder if you don't normally allow them to have caffeine. This can be pre-measured the evening before so that in the morning, it just has to be thrown in the blender. Our kids love their smoothies.


Avocado Toast - our kids would eat this every day if we let them. In fact, my husband and I probably could too!


Hope some of these ideas help your family get off to a good start in your new school year. Remember parents - the foundation to your child's good health is their diet! And don't forget proper exercise and sleep :)