Red Beans & Rice

My husband loves spicy foods.  And I love trying new recipes.  A while ago I experimented with finding the right mix of heat and seasonings and perfected my own version of red beans and rice.  It would take me all day.  I'd wash, peel and chop a ton of veggies.  I'd soak beans overnight.  I'd slow cook it all in a crockpot.  And. It. Was. Awesome!

So I decided to Thrive-a-lize my favorite beans and rice recipe!  And it turned out beautifully.  It also makes an awesome jar meal to have on hand.  All you do is toss the ingredients into a pan, add water and let it simmer!  You have a hearty meal in 20 minutes that only costs $0.80 a serving! 

Red Beans & Rice

Serves 8

$0.80/serving

Ingredients:

1 cup Thrive instant red beans

1 cup Thrive white rice

3 Tablespoons Thrive cheese blend

2 Tablespoons Thrive tomato powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 to 1 tsp cajun seasoning (more if you like it really spicy)

1/4 cup Thrive chopped onions (FD)

1/4 cup Thrive celery

1/2 cup Thrive red bell peppers

Directions:

Add ingredients to a large pan.  Top with 5-6 cups water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes, covered.  Stir occasionally.  Remove lid and continue to simmer another 5-10 minutes or until it reaches desired consistency.  Enjoy!

You can add sausage crumbles to this recipe which would be delicious!  Or add in some smoked sausage.  Top with sour cream or hot sauce or whatever you like!  You can add/remove veggies depending on your preference!

Interested in trying Thrive for yourself? Contact me here.

Apple Strudel

Most of the recipes in this blog come from my own kitchen and are the meals I cook for my family.  Today, I'm going to share this recipe by Thrive Life's Executive Chef...Chef Todd Leonard! 

This handy recipe uses one of the items on January's sales specials next month...Granny Smith Apples!  They are sooo good!  Look for discounted prices on these apples starting January 1st!

Find Granny Smith Apples HERE.

Speaking of Chef Todd...he has put together 2 awesome Thrive Life collections...the Smart Start Collections.  These come with foods hand picked by Chef Todd himself.  For 3 months, you will receive a great variety of Thrive foods at prices lower than purchasing the same items individually!  These collections come with a great guide book which walks you through how to use each food with no guessing.  It also comes with helpful tips and recipes so you can start cooking with Thrive right away.  You automatically get Q Club membership (an $80 fee) for free for life when you purchase one of these 3 month kits.  With the Q club, you get monthly Q pons and points for every dollar you spend to earn FREE food!  You can't go wrong with Smart Start!

Read about the Smart Start collections here:

A Taste of Thrive 

Chef's Selections 

Have questions?  Contact Me.

How To Save Money Every Month On Your Grocery Bill

How To Save Money Every Month On Your Grocery Bill

Did you know that the average family throws away around 1/4 of their food every month?  Often because it goes bad before they have a change to eat it.  Over the course of a year that is $2,000 that is going straight into the trash!

Thrive foods are the perfect solution.  Did you know that Thrive foods have a shelf life of 25-30 years unopened and 1 year opened?  I see the most savings in my own grocery budget when it comes to fruits like berries.  We love blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.  It is nearly impossible to buy a carton of berries at the store without having at least one that is already moldy when you buy it.  And within just a few days they all start to mold!  Did you know that Thrive berries don't ever mold?!  Can you believe that?!  And they taste like candy!  I love having several months worth of berries on hand in my pantry to use any time I need them without having to run to the store to buy moldy berries.

Thrive also saves me money because I am building up my home store.  I put away extra food every time I get my Q shipment.  This allows me to always have foods on hand that I need.  I'm not running to the grocery store for one item and coming out with a cart full of things I don't actually need.  Did you know that grocery stores are designed to make you buy on impulse?

The convenience of Thrive foods also save me money.  Thrive truly is a healthy fast food.  Since all the prep work is done for me, I can have healthy, delicious meals ready in minutes.  No thawing and browning meat.  No peeling and chopping veggies.  No boiling potatoes.  On a busy day, I know that I can have a meal on the table in 10-20 minutes.  No more going through the drive-thru at the last minute for greasy, expensive meals.  Did you know that Thrive meals cost less per serving than the fast food window?  Thrive Express Meals are a great example of this!  

My family actually eats a lot more servings of fruits and vegetables every day now than we did before we started Thriving.  Thrive makes it easy to invest in your health!

In addition to all the great ways to save listed above, Thrive offers excellent benefits to customers and consultants!  Did you know that you can get monthly coupons and heavily discounted items with the Q Club?  And you also earn points for every dollar you spend for FREE food!  You can also earn FREE and half off food by hosting a cooking demo (both in person and virtually)!  

I signed up to be a Thrive Life consultant because the benefits are outstanding.  If you are a regular Q customer, it just makes sense to do this.  You earn a commission on all your own orders!  And extra income on top of that!  What could you do with an extra $300 a month?  Or MORE?

Thrive has made a huge difference in the way I shop, cook and feed my family.  It has also allowed me to continue prioritizing my family while still contributing financially.  I am so thankful someone told me about Thrive!  

Interested in more information?  Contact me HERE.

Want to try Thrive Express Meals?  SHOP HERE.

Want to learn more about the Q?  Groceries to your door every month!  CLICK HERE.

Want to learn more about earning FREE and half off food?  Read about it here.

Want to learn more about the benefits of consulting?  Read about it here.

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves 6 

Cost per serving: $1.50

Ingredients:

2 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

2 1/2 cups Thrive potato chunks

1 cup Thrive broccoli, broken into smaller pieces

1/4 cup Thrive chopped onions (freeze dried) 

1/4 cup Thrive cheese blend 

1/2 cup Thrive Bechamel 

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown bacon in a large pan.  Set bacon aside to cool.  Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in pan.  Carefully pour in chicken stock and water and bring to a rolling boil.  Turn down heat and add potato chunks.  Simmer for 10 minutes, covered.  Add in broccoli, celery and onion.  Simmer another 10 minutes, covered and stir occasionally.  Add in cheese blend and Bechamel.  Mix thoroughly and simmer for a few minutes until soup thickens.  Blend with immersion blender for smoother soup. Top with crumbled bacon, sour cream, cheese, and chives.  Enjoy!

Interested in trying Thrive?  Contact me by visiting my website.

Find ingredients for this recipe HERE.

Thrive Life Product Size Comparison and Serving Sizes

 Thrive Life Product Size Comparison and Serving Sizes

This comparison might be helpful if you are just getting started with Thrive Life. Here are the typical ranges of serving sizes per container:

Pantry cans- around 7-15 servings

#10 cans- around 25-45 servings or more

Thrive sauces: 30-80 servings per pantry can

Full-size snackies- 3 servings

Snackies singles- 1 serving

Express meals- 4 servings per pouch

To view the product label for the food items when shopping online:

Click on the individual food item. Then click on the green "product label" found underneath the picture of the food item. This will show you the entire label which includes serving sizes, ingredients, instructions for reconstituting the food, usage suggestions and shelf life. You can also see the GF symbol which indicates the food is Gluten Free. I found this very helpful when I first started shopping for Thrive Life foods.

 Interested in trying Thrive Life foods?  Click HERE.

Have questions or need help?  Contact me here.

Great Foods for a Gluten Free Diet

The struggle is real.  With so many health issues tied to gluten sensitivity and intolerance, what can we do?

How scary that so much of the food for sale in stores have hidden ingredients that make it a challenge to avoid gluten and other harmful ingredients.

Stop reading the back of boxes and start Thriving!  Thrive Life offers over 100 food items that are certified gluten free!  These products are packaged under gluten free conditions with exclusive machinery and are also tested after packaging!  With Thrive Life, you can rest assured that the foods you eat are nourishing your body!

These foods are also delivered straight to your doorstep!

To see a list of gluten free foods, click  HERE.

How to Sneak Veggies into Your Meals

How to Sneak Veggies into Your Meals 

Thrive vegetables can be powdered in the food processor and added to soups, stews, sauces and smoothies.  Your kids and picky eaters won't know they're eating vegetables!

See the demo video here:

Kid-Friendly Spaghetti Sauce
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 cup Thrive sausage crumbles

2/3 cup Thrive tomato powder

1/4 cup Thrive celery (powdered in food processor)

1/4 cup Thrive mixed bell peppers (powdered in food processor)

1/2 cup Thrive tomato dices (powdered in food processor)

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp baking soda (to counter acidity, if necessary)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp marjoram

Directions:

Add all ingredients to clean, dry mason jar and top with 300 cc oxygen absorber to make a jar meal.  Or, add ingredients to 5-6 cups boiling water.  Simmer 10-15 minutes, covered.  Add more or less water to reach desired consistency.  Serve over spaghetti and enjoy!

Interested in trying Thrive?  Contact me by visiting my website.

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How to Use Thrive Tomato Powder

Tomato powder is one of my favorite Thrive foods.  It is so versatile!  Here are some great ways it can be used:

• Replace your canned tomato sauce and paste.  You control consistency by how much water you add.  Tomato powder has one ingredient:  tomatoes.  No sodium, additives or preservatives! 
• 6 tablespoons powder + 1/2 cup water = 6 oz can paste
• 2/3 cups powder + 1 3/4 cups water = 15 oz can sauce

• Make your own tomato juice!  Mix a little tomato powder into a glass of water.  Add a little salt, your favorite seasonings, and go!  No more need to buy V8.  You can make on demand so there is no waste.  
•  1 cup powder + 8 cups water = 64 oz bottle juice

• Mix with your favorite seasonings and use as a rub on meat to grill, roast or smoke in the smoker.  

• Use to thicken soups and stews and enhance the flavor.  No more opening an entire can of tomato paste when you only need a few tablespoons!

• Add some basil, oregano and garlic powder to make your own spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce.

•  Mix into dough for bread or tortillas for a sun-dried tomato flavor.

• The possibilities are endless!   

Find tomato powder HERE.

5 Minute Chicken Salad

Perfect for a quick meal!

5 Minute Chicken Salad
Cost per serving: $1.67

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Thrive chopped chicken

1 to 2 Tablespoons Thrive celery

1/2 to 1 teaspoon Thrive freeze dried chopped onion

salt and pepper

mayo

Directions:

Add chicken, celery and onion to a tupperware with a lid.  Add enough water to pool a little at the bottom of the container (3-4 tablespoons or more).  Replace lid and shake container to incorporate water.  Let reconstitute 3-5 minutes, shaking again a few times.  Drain off any excess water.  Add 1-2 Tablespoons of mayo.  Season with salt and pepper or other seasonings as desired.  Serve on bread for a sandwich, top on lettuce for a salad or eat with crackers.  

Interested in trying this recipe for yourself?  Start shopping HERE.

Easy Shepherd's Pie

No browning meat or peeling, chopping or boiling veggies with this recipe!

Shepherd’s Pie

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves 6
Cost per serving: $2.21

Ingredients:

1 cup Thrive ground beef

1 cup Thrive green peas

1 cup Thrive corn

¼ cup Thrive carrot dices (optional)

2 to 3 cups Thrive mashed potatoes, prepared and seasoned to taste

1/3 cup Thrive espganole gravy mix

3 to 4 tablespoons ketchup, to taste

1 to 2 tablespoon mustard, to taste

Directions:

Add ground beef, peas, corn and carrots to a large bowl.  Add 2 cups of hot water.  Let reconstitute for 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary.  (Only a small amount of water should pool at the bottom of the bowl.  If all water absorbs, add a more a little at a time and stir occasionally until food is reconstituted). 

Pour contents of bowl into a large pan.  Turn on stove to medium high heat.  Add 1/3 cup of espagnole gravy mix.  Add 1 to 2 cups of water and mix until smooth and desired consistency (gravy should be somewhat thick).   Add in ketchup and mustard, mixing until incorporated. 

Add mixture to an 8”x10” casserole dish.  Top with mashed potatoes.  Sprinkle paprika over potatoes.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Interested in trying Thrive?  Contact me by visiting my website.

Easy Ways to Use Thrive Foods

The number one question I get about Thrive is how to use it.  It's so easy!  Since there is no prep work with Thrive, you can scoop and go and have meals ready in minutes.

Here are some ways to use Thrive foods:

• Snack on the foods dry!  My family eats most of the fruits straight out of the can.  They are so good!  The same can be done with some of the veggies.  Red and green bell peppers are delicious dry.
• Add water.  Or a marinade!  I like to add chicken stock as the liquid when I refresh chicken.  Add orange juice when refreshing to make orange chicken or orange beef!  Toss in some veggies and soy sauce and you have a quick stir fry.  Thrive foods refresh quickly if you put them in a sealed container that you can tumble.  Add the necessary amount of liquid (as indicated on the can) and just give it a shake every few minutes and your foods will reconstitute perfectly!  You can also use a spray bottle to spritz delicate foods like grapes.
•  If you are cooking a dish with a lot of liquid (soup, stew, sauce) just toss in Thrive ingredients!  Add a little extra water and your foods with refresh while you cook.  A great way to do this is with something like chicken soup.  All you do is add your Thrive chicken, carrots, celery, onion and chicken bouillon to boiling water.  Let it simmer with your favorite seasonings for 10 minutes or so and you're done!  Chicken soup makes a great jar meal, too! 

Post your questions in the comments section and I will answer them!  I love using Thrive and teaching others how easy it is to use every day!

Want more ideas for how to use Thrive foods?  Click HERE.

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5 minute breakfast scramble

I like to measure out ingredients for this recipe in small mason jars.  I'll have quick breakfasts all week!  No browning sausage, cracking eggs or chopping peppers!  Let this recipe reconstitute while you are getting ready in the morning and you can cook this in under 5 minutes!

This recipe serves one.

Sausage, Egg & Bell Pepper Breakfast Scramble

 4 tablespoons Thrive scrambled egg mix

2 tablespoons Thrive sausage crumbles

2 tablespoons Thrive mixed bell pepper

1/3 to 1/2 cup water 

(You can also add Thrive freeze dried chopped onions, green chilies, etc.)

Add ingredients above into a small mason jar in the order they appear.  Top with 300 cc oxygen absorber for a longer shelf life or use within a month or two (sooner if you live in a humid climate).

To make:

Dump contents of jar into a non-stick pan.  Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of water.  Mix and allow ingredients to reconstitute (about 10 minutes).  Once reconstituted, turn on stove to medium heat and cook until eggs are firm.  Add desired seasonings and toppings.  This can be eaten as is or it makes excellent filler for breakfast burritos!  

Interested in trying Thrive?  Contact me by visiting my website.

What Is Thrive Life?

Thrive Life started out as a company called Shelf Reliance.  Their main focus was shelving units for food storage.  Along the way, they realized that the food people were storing wasn't any good.  It didn't taste good.  It was full of preservatives and had little nutritional value.  They decided they could do better and Thrive Life was born.

Thrive Life foods are foods which are allowed to vine ripen.  They are flash frozen within a few hours of being picked, and are then put into the freeze dryer.  The freeze drying process locks in nutrients and flavor while preserving the food without need for additives or preservatives.  Grocery store produce, on the other hand, is picked long before it is ripe.  It is then shipped thousands of miles to the grocery store where it sits until you are ready to buy it.  The longer produce sits in this state, the more nutrients it loses.  Most foods have lost up to 50% of their nutrients within a few days after being picked.

Thrive foods have a shelf life of 25-30 years in their sealed containers.  Once opened, they are good for a year or longer.  All the while, the nutritional value and flavor remains.  Thrive saves me money because I am not throwing out produce that goes bad before I can eat it.

My goal with this blog is to share how I am using Thrive every day in my own kitchen.  I will post recipes, food spotlights and ways to use Thrive foods.  I will also share how Thrive can save you money and help you build a healthier lifestyle!

Want to find out more about Thrive?  Click HERE


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Mason Jar Chili

This jar meal is delicious and can be ready to eat in 15-20 minutes! Jar meals are an excellent way to skip the drive-thru.

 

Mason Jar Chili
Cost per serving:  $1.57

Ingredients:

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano                       

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder (or more to taste)

2/3 cup Thrive tomato powder

1 cup Thrive ground beef

1 ½ cups Thrive instant red beans

¼ cup Thrive mixed bell peppers (or green chilis, or both!)

¼ cup Thrive tomato dices (optional)

Add above ingredients to a clean, dry quart mason jar.  Shake ingredients down to fit.  Top with 300cc oxygen absorber.  This meal is shelf-stable in a cool, dry pantry for 5-7 years!

To make:

Bring 6 cups of water to boil in a pan.  Pour all ingredients into pan and stir.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Top with desired toppings and enjoy!

View my demo video for this recipe HERE

Interested in trying Thrive?  Contact me by visiting my website.

Want to get monthly specials?  Follow me on facebook. 

Why I Thrive

It has always been important to me that I feed my family nutritious, high-quality food.  I did tons of research and tried to cook everything from scratch for a while.  I found it both impossible and exhausting.  Soon after, I gave up and just did the best I could.  Then, I found Thrive Life.  Thrive has completely changed the way I cook and the food we eat.  I quickly learned that Thrive is both convenient and delicious.  Thrive offers what no other company in the industry can....food that is both fast AND healthy.  I have finally found a way to feel good about what I'm feeding my family without having to slave away in the kitchen for hours a day.  I truly believe that everyone can benefit from Thrive and want to share what I have learned with you!

To find out how to get started with Thrive, visit my website.