Cucumber Detox Water

 Cucumber Detox Water 
How to make a Cucumber Detox Water at home in your own kitchen.

Cucumber has a very inviting scent and it can help you in your efforts toward getting healthy. This is a Cucumber Detox Water recipe that you can DIY at home and it can be made in a snap! This cucumber water is refreshing, delicious and in line with common fitness goals. Many of the items to make this recipe can be found right in your kitchen. If you have grown your own organic garden then this another way you can put your cucumber crop to good use. Try cucumbers waters with different flavor combinations to customize this beverage to your taste.

Cucumber Lime Detox Water

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Cucumber Slices

16oz. Pure Water

Ice Cubes

Lime
Glass / Stainless Steel Bottle

Optional:
Honey/ Agave
Lime Slices
Mint Leaves

Yeilds 1 serving.


Step 1:
Slice cucumber up into really thin slices. Set aside.

Step 2:
If you are going to add lime slices or mint, prepare them and set aside.

Step 3:
Place cucumbers and ice into chilled glass and pour in your pure water.
Tip: place cucumber in the freezer and they will serve a dual purpose of health and keeping the drink ice cold longer.

Step 4:
Next add in your Lime Juice


Step 5:
You can also add some honey or agave as a sweetener. Optional.
Tip: not recommended if you are looking for detox or weight management benefits.

Serve and Enjoy!

Tip: Only drink essential oil infused drinks out of a Glass or Stainless Steel container. Do NOT drink out of a plastic container/straw, or Styrofoam.

Enjoy, please leave me a comment below and ask any questions.
If you try this tutorial out please share that with me on the SWEET HAUTE Facebook page!
Thank you for visiting and have a wonderful day everyone:)

~Be Sweet
Christina
Sweetest Haute

Please SUBSCRIBE, and follow along @SWEET HAUTE on Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook {new page}, Twitter, and Instagram.

Skinny Zuppa Toscana Italian Soup Recipe

How to make a Skinny version of the delicious Zuppa Toscana Soup that you would find at great Italian restaurants such as Olive Garden. This is my family's favorite soup ever since a friend of mine re-introduced it to me over the holidays. I had completely forgotten about it since my family rarely eats out at restaurants ever since we've had our newest edition. Now that she's a toddler she cannot sit for an entire dinner out...and who blames her, she's a curious toddler!

Anyways, this is also one of my parent's favorite soups. When I was in high school they use to go the lunch for the special with soup, salad, and bread sticks during their lunch hour with the entire office. This soup is one of the favorites.

I wanted to create a Skinny version of the Zuppa Toscana soup since my family eats on the healthier side of the spectrum yet we have our 'cheat' meals every so often. This version is a little bit lighter and yet it doesn't take away from the famous flavor of Zuppa Toscana that it is known and loved for! I've included both versions in case you would like the regular ingredients.

Skinny Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

1 lb. Hot Sausage

    -Skinny: make your own from ground pork and use organic spices

1 Bacon package

    -Skinny: Turkey Bacon, or make your own Whole30 Bacon

2 Tbsp Almond Flour

1 Cup Heavy Cream

    -Skinny: Coconut Milk

6 Potatoes

    -Skinny: Sweet Potatoes, or Butternut Squash

2 Cups Spinach fresh

2 Boxes Chicken Broth 32oz.

    -Skinny: Low Sodium, or make your own

1 Onion

2 Tbsp Garlic Minced

Sea Salt
Large Pot

     

Step 1:
Chop up Onion and peel and chop Potatoes. Set aside.


Step 2:
Cook spicy Hot Sausage in large pot thoroughly. Set aside.


Step 3:
Fry Bacon in same pot. Mix in onion until softened.


Step 4:
Combine Hot Sausage, Potatoes, Onion, Bacon and stir. Pour in Chicken Broth and simmer on medium for 20 minutes until potatoes are cooked through.


Step 5:
Pour in 1 cup Heavy Cream.
   -Skinny 1 cup Coconut Milk
  (or)
  -1/2 cup Coconut Milk and 1/2 cup Heavy Cream


Step 6:
Stir in 2 Tablespoons of Almond Flour and 2 Tablespoons minced Garlic. Simmer 10 minutes.


Step 7:
Add 2 cups fresh Spinach, I used about 2 handfuls and combine.

Done.
Season with Sea Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve and Enjoy!

If you have questions...let me know.
Please leave a comment below and have a wonderful day:)

~Be Sweet
Christina
Sweetest Haute 

SUBSCRIBE | and follow @SWEET HAUTE 
Pinterest | YouTube | Facebook {new page}, Twitter, | Instagram.

Slow Cooker BBQ Meatballs Recipe

Slow Cooker BBQ Meatball Recipe

Game day for Super Bowl Sunday is quickly approaching and I wanted to share a recipe that is quick and easy as well as delicious! Slow Cooker BBQ Meatball Recipe. These meatballs are perfection....a real crowd pleaser and the recipe I'm sharing can be done 2 ways, just in case you do not have certain kitchen appliances on hand.

 In my family this is a 'semi-staple' at every get together because it is bite size and kids also really enjoy these. The reason I say 'semi-staple' is because we usually do not serve them at Christmas Dinner and Easter since there are so many other traditional dishes there; yet if it's a birthday, family game night, super bowl, playoffs, dinner party, baby shower, or bridal event these meatballs are always a great idea. It's an easy menu item for guests to handle and the flavor is a familiar BBQ taste that is sweet yet savory. Serve with sturdy two-prong toothpicks 'bamboo forks' to make it an amazing user friendly dish.

Slow Cooker BBQ Meatball
Only need 2 ingredients for the sauce!

Ingredients:

BBQ Sauce

Concord Grape Jelly

Meatballs

    - frozen 32 oz bag

    - mini size or full size

Optional {recommended}

Green Onions

Supplies:

Slow Cooker or Crock Pot

or

Baking Sheet

Foil 

Pot

Can be made as a Slow Cooker dinner too:)

I used Smucker's Concord Grape Jelly.

 
 Below you'll see 2 different ways to prep these BBQ Meatballs.

The BBQ sauce in this recipe was Masterpiece Hickory Brown Sugar.

Instructions for cooking BBQ Meatballs 2 different ways are below!

Slow Cooker BBQ Meatball
Only need 2 ingredients for the sauce!

Ingredients:

BBQ Sauce

Concord Grape Jelly

Meatballs

    - frozen 32 oz bag

    - mini size or full size

Optional {recommended}

Green Onions

Supplies:

Slow Cooker or Crock Pot

or

Baking Sheet

Foil 

Pot

Slow Cooker and Crock Pot Instructions

This idea is the easiest option when hosting an event, these can cook away while you tend to other details of your meal and decor for the party!

Step 1:

Place frozen meatballs into slow cooker.

Step 2:

Pour BBQ sauce and Grape Concord Jelly over the meatballs.

Step 3:

Cook on High for 3hrs.
- toss to coat meatballs in sauce when complete, garnish with green onions, serve, you're DONE!

D O N E.

Oven Instructions

If you find yourself with no slow cooker/ crock pot in sight, like me one time, we couldn't find the ceramic insert...just the outer warming receptacle and glass lid. With a party in a few hours I had to make them in the oven.

Step 1:

Line your baking sheet with parchment or foil. Bake meatballs according to the instructions on your specific package of meatballs.

Step 2:

Warm up BBQ sauce and Grape Concord Jelly at medium heat on the stove top in a large, deep pot. Stir occasionally until it's simmering and silky smooth consistency.

Step 3:

Add cooked meatballs into sauce mixture and combine the two, coating the meatballs. Garnish with green onion and serve!

DONE.

This recipe can be adapted to any type of meat dish you want to warm up or cook in a crock pot. Make sure the meat is fully cooked if just warming up. Also this can be served as an appetizer or made into a main course simply be serving over some white rice with some veggies on the side.

Enjoy!
Please leave me a comment below to let me know you visited and if you have any questions I can help answer for you:)
Have a wonderful day!!!

You may also like:

 

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

 Football Deviled Eggs with a Cayenne Kick

4 Flavor Sheet Pan Pie Tutorial

Pumpkin Spice Macarons Recipe

~Be Sweet
Christina
Sweetest Haute

Please SUBSCRIBE, and follow along @SWEET HAUTE on Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook {new page}, Twitter, and Instagram.

Bell Pepper Boats: Whole30 Recipe

Stuffed Bell Pepper Eggs Boats: Whole30 Recipe

This Whole 30 compliant recipe is delicious and could pass for comfort food any day. It also has a few key ingredients that help combat allergies and inflammation. This is one of my favorite Whole 30 dishes because it contains organic bacon (my recipe here), eggs, bell peppers, Ghee (my recipe here), sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. You can always switch the veggies and spices out to the ones that you prefer.

Ingredients:

3 Bell Peppers, organic

   - yellow, orange, red are best

Mushrooms, organic

  -1 can

  - bushel

6 Eggs, organic

  -free range are best

1 Onion, organic
1 Sweet Potato, organic

1 Tomato, organic

1 Garlic clove minced

1/2 Cup Meat of choice, organic
Ghee (recipe post here) or olive oil

Optional-

Bacon, organic (recipe post here)

Spinach, organic
Red Pepper or / Cayenne (for spicy)
Egg whites, organic
   -infused with garlic mince

Oven Temperature 375* Degrees F
Prep time: 10 min
Bake time: 35-40 min

Step 1: 

Pre-heat oven 375* Degrees. Slice your bell peppers in half, remove seeds and pith, and leave stem in tack.

Step 2:

Season each bell pepper by sprinkling sea salt, and if you like...add other organic seasonings (garlic powder / onion powder) that do not contain any preservatives or chemicals.

Step 3:
Prep your veggies and meat, organic bacon, chop into small pieces and slices, season with sea salt and load them into your boats.

Step 4:
Brush the top of each boat with organic olive oil or Ghee. Don't have Ghee? Make your own instead of buying it shown in this post.

Step 5:
Top each boat with your organic egg and a slice of organic tomato. Get creative with herbs and spices as well as the way you prep your vegetable filling, season with sea salt. Finish with homemade organic bacon (recipe post here).

Step 6:
Prep a baking dish, I used glass pie plates. Drizzle olive oil or Ghee and place into oven.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, varies on your specific oven. Check mid-way to ensure your egg isn't over boiled.

You want it to achieve the type of egg consistency you prefer, softer then less time etc.

I hope that you enjoy this meal as much as I did. Please leave a comment below and let me know if you have any questions on how to make this :)

Thanks for visiting!!! Enjoy.

~Be Sweet
Christina
Sweetest Haute

Please SUBSCRIBE, and follow along @SWEET HAUTE on Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook {new page}, Twitter, and Instagram.

Chicken Marsala Meatballs- Tutorial

Here’s a lovely little appetizer that you’re going to want to bookmark: Chicken Marsala Meatballs.

These tasty little bites are made with deliciously nutty Parmesan cheese and ground chicken, so they stay moist.
Marsala wine, is a fortified wine from Sicily that gives food, especially sauces, a light sweetness with hints of tamarind and vanilla, and overall deepens the flavor of the dish.
I made Chicken Marsala Meatballs as an appetizer, but you can serve them with the rich wine sauce as a main course over rice or pasta.
Here's the tutorial... the printable recipe follows!

 

 

 

Chicken Marsala Meatballs

1. Gather your ingredients: 

• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
• 1 pound ground chicken (I used thigh meat)
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup Marsala wine.

 
2. Finely grate the Parmesan cheese. Place ½ cup on a plate; set aside remaining ¼ cup. 

 
3. Finely chop the parsley; set aside.  


 4. Place the ground chicken, breadcrumbs, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper and egg in a large mixing bowl. Blend with your hands or a spoon until well incorporated.

 
5. Form into 1-inch balls.

 
6. Roll each chicken meatball in the Parmesan cheese on the plate; set aside.

 7. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet on medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Add meatballs and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often until lightly browned on all sides.

  8. Add chicken broth and Marsala wine. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through. 

  9. Remove from pan and top with remaining cheese and parsley. Serve immediately.


Chicken Marsala Meatballsprep: 30 minutes
cook: 10 minutes

you’ll need...1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
1 pound ground chicken (I used thigh meat)
½ cup breadcrumbs
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup chicken broth
¼ cup Marsala wine

let’s get to it...
Finely grate the Parmesan cheese. Place ½ cup on a plate; set aside remaining ¼ cup. Finely chop the parsley; set aside.
Place the ground chicken, breadcrumbs, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper and egg in a large mixing bowl. Blend with your hands or a spoon until well incorporated. Form into 1-inch balls.
Roll each chicken meatball in the Parmesan cheese on the plate; set aside.
Heat butter and oil in a large skillet on medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Add meatballs and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often until lightly browned on all sides.
Add chicken broth and Marsala wine. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from pan and top with remaining cheese and parsley. Serve immediately.

 



Like Meatballs? You'll love this recipe: Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs

Read more on my website: http://www.mamashighstrung.com

Or send your comments to: mama@mamashighstrung.com

Thanks for that yummy and delicious looking recipe tutorial that is just in time for Fall!

Enjoy!

 

~Be Sweet

Christina

Sweetest Haute

 

Please remember to SUBSCRIBE to this Blog and follow SWEET HAUTE on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and FB {new page}.



Super Mario Bros Party {Series}: Food

For a Super Mario Brothers Party I wanted to serve various amazingly adorable Super Mario Bros Party food choices and ideas that resembled the characters in the video games. Yet, I also did not want too many sugary items because of the kids. Though there are so many cute ideas that involve sweets, it is definitely not realistic to serve that at a birthday party since most parents do not want the kids consuming the sugar and we most definitely do not want to be left with all the un-eaten sweet treats or candy. 

Candy buffets look great, but when I had one at our wedding...we were left with so much candy because we had to fill the jars with so MUCH candy to make it look beautiful...but no one can eat that much candy, not even a whole wedding reception full of people. So a candy, cake pop, sugary sweet buffet was not happening when my son and his friend's are already hyper when the see each other.

With a trip the the produce section, some creativity with your printer, and paper crafts you too can whip up some of the following projects for this Super Mario Bro's Birthday theme.

Fire Power Flower- Veggie Tray

The flower stem were actually star shaped cucumber slices. It goes with the theme yet also takes off most of the peel for those that do not like the taste of it.

Piranha Cups with Mario Fruit Snack packs and Gold Chocolate Coins



Piranha Party Favor Cups

Star Power- Sandwiches

I made these with Nutella and Peanut Butter, then mini Chocolate Chip eyes.

Mario Star Power Sammies

We had a 7 Up Tower near the drink station because (no caffeine) yet still had sugar, but it resembled when the earn 1 Up coin points in the video game...only here it was 7 up!

I attached some fake 'Mario' mustaches to keep with the theme on some dollar store red solo cups.
The yellow shredded paper on the 7 UP soda drink tower was also from the dollar store.

Princess Peach Puffs- Pink Cakes

Super Mario Cart Bananas- Gummy Treats

Mario and Luigi Mustache- Cupcakes

I made the cakes without frosting them, then just added a dollop of chocolate from another project then placed the mustache topper on them instead of having both. The kids and parents loved this!

I put the cupcakes into these cupcake holders that I turned into Super Mario 'Mushrooms', or storybook house or whatever the kids call them...

I already had the cupcake tower/ holder from another party year and the colors worked perfectly.

Mario Mushroom Pops- Marshmallows

    

Now let's be real...these did not come out as beautiful as I 'envisioned' them to be, but they're still super adorable, and you get the theme idea!!

Piranha Plants- Fruit Kabobs

This was taken with my iPhone so the image is not fabulous....my bad;)

Super Mario Salad Stars and Mushrooms- Radishes/ Cucumbers Tray

Look how cute the "Mushroom" Radishes came out, that did take a long time but I got a method when doing it down to a fast system....made it much faster. Spin knife tip to create the mushroom dots, then roll knife around bottom half of the skin...then chop in the square stem and it just practically falls off. Drop them back into water until you are ready to serve.

Well I hope you like this post in the Super Mario Bro's Party {Series} this has been the Food portion.

You might also like:

Super Mario DIY Games

 

Super Mario DIY Decor

 

 also... Super Mario DIY Piñata- Tutorial

 
Fire Power Super Mario Theme Pinata game!

ENJOY!!! Please leave a comment below and let me know you stopped by!

~Be Sweet
Christina
Sweetest Haute

Please SUBSCRIBE, and Follow along on YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook (New Page)