Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Sweet Heart Muffins

Sweet Heart Muffins 

Weekends are just made for baked goods. 
These are a healthier option that allow you to have a treat on the weekend without undoing all your healthy eating efforts during the week. They would also make a good snack during the week if you have no problem with portion control, things like muffins even healthy ones can call my name.
 Each muffin is only 66 calories ! 

1 cup plain greek yogurt 
2 1/2 cups plain oats uncooked 
2 eggs 
1/2 cup Stevia 
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice 
1 cup strawberries cut up into small pieces 
1/3 cup chocolate chips 

Put everything in the food processor except for the strawberries and chocolate chips mix until it looks like batter, ours was still a little course. Fold the chocolate chips and strawberries into the mixture. Grease a muffin tin with coconut oil well. Fill cups halfway bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes check with a knife to make sure they are ready. If it comes out clean they are done. They did stick a little despite the coconut oil. If you use cupcake liners let me know how it works for you ! 

Friday, February 22, 2013

Beans and Rice or Rice and Beans

Beans and Rice or Rice and Beans 
Vegetarian lunch idea 
This was super quick ,affordable and easy to make.
It has lot's of protein, and fiber it would travel well for lunch just make a batch ahead of time to take to work .
 You could also freeze the leftovers to take the following week. 

What you'll need 
coconut oil 
1 can  garbanzo beans
1 can  black beans 
1 can corn
1/2 onion chopped
2 cups spinach
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic salt
pepper to taste
brown minute rice 

Cook rice in the microwave as directed we made 2 servings of rice 
saute chopped onion in coconut oil in a pot 
drain the Garbanzo beans 
add the both can of beans and corn into the pot, I did not drain the black beans or the corn. 
add the spices and spinach stir bring to a boil reduce to simmer
stir occasional cook for 10/15 minutes serve over rice

2/3 cup of cooked rice and a cup & 1/2 of the beans stew comes to 514 calories which is a lot of food !

If you are trying to lose weight this is a great lunch idea, until you reach your goal weight you'll want to stick to a lean meat and veggie for dinner. 






Saturday, February 16, 2013

Breakfast cookies !


Chocolate chip breakfast cookies.

Saw a version of these on  pinterest and had to try them. I didn't have all the ingredients 
so I made my own version and they turned out great ! So here is my version. After tasting one you could easily use this as a base for oatmeal raisin cookies or cranberry almond cookies pretty much anything. They are not SWEET like regular cookies so some of the kids liked them some didn't ,but at least everyone tried them and overall they were a hit.

What you'll need 
2 Ripe Bananas 
1/3 Cups Creamy or Chunky peanut butter 
2/3 cups Unsweetened applesauce
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract 
1 1/2 Cups Oatmeal uncooked 
1/4 Vanilla protein powder
1/4 Chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350

Mash bananas and peanut butter together until completely combined. Add applesauce stir until creamy. Add the vanilla ,protein powder ,and oatmeal stir until mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Grease cookie sheet with coconut oil drop mixture in rounded spoonfuls on the sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. I like soft cookies if you want them crispy cook them longer. This made 24 cookies each cookie is 70 calories no flour ,no added sugar and lots of protein ! Not to mention I think they are yummy enough for dessert ! 

Friday, February 15, 2013

Fish & shrimp Bowl

Fish & shrimp bowl 
500/600 calorie lunch idea

Instant brown rice
Tilapia
4 ounces of shrimp
coconut oil
"Slap ya mama" or other spicy seasoning
soy sauce
Edamame
broccoli
1 egg


You can make a batch of this at home and take it into the office.

Get a couple of pots of water going one for the rice and one for the Edamame
Wipe the bottom of  glass baking dish with coconut oil I use a paper towel
add fish and shrimp sprinkle with the Slap Ya Mama or any other spicy seasoning you might have. Bake fish and shrimp as directed on the packaging.
Cook the rice according to the directions ,use brown rice it is better for you !
Same for the Edamame , I love the steam fresh microwave bags of broccoli so get that going also.
When the rice is done add it to a hot skillet with a teaspoon of melted coconut oil  leaving a hole in the center of the rice add the egg and scramble with the rice and a tablespoon of soy sauce.

Once all the components are complete add each serving together in your bowl.
By measuring each component separately you'll know exactly how many calories you are getting mine came to about 548 delicious calories !

If you are trying to lose weight stick with this for lunch you don't want to have the carbs (brown rice) at dinner.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Garlic lemon grilled pork chops

Garlic lemon grilled pork chops 

Top loin cut pork chop with sauteed spinach

We are on a budget so I'm always looking for a deal ,and today I found some pork chops on sale so I snagged them up.
I knew I wanted to grill them ,but also knew I needed to marinate them. Since we have given up those oh so tasty and convenient bottles of chemical laden marinades I came up with a new one with fresh ingredients we already had.

What you'll need
Pork chops top loin cut shown here
(any kind you like would work)
Olive oil
Lemon juice or a lemon
Mined Garlic
salt/pepper
Oregano

Put the chops in a storage bag drizzle with olive oil ,add two tablespoons lemon juice or cut up a fresh lemon into fourths squeeze the juice into the bag toss the lemon wedges in also add a tablespoon minced garlic, salt/pepper and a good bit of oregano. Close the bag and mix everything together make sure all the chops are covered with everything. Let the bag sit in the fridge I did it 30 minutes before they hit the grill and they tasted great ,but I bet if you let it sit in the fridge all day it'll be even better !

Then grill. We had really thick chops that took forever to cook, next time I'd cut them in half.
I wiped the grate down with coconut oil so they wouldn't stick. These took 30 minutes on medium high ,adjust your cooking time to suit your chops.

Sauteed spinach is a perfect side just wash and drain, saute in coconut oil with minced garlic.

Another no carb dinner !




Sunday, February 10, 2013

Quinoa lunch bowl with shrimp and bacon

Quinoa lunch bowl 


It's been 70 days of clean eating and like everyone else we like variety 
and there are only so many ways to make a salad exciting. So we decided to try and make Quinoa bowl out of things we already had on hand and it turned out great ! We'll definitely be having this again.

What you'll need 
4 cups spinach 
1 portabella mushroom (large)
1/2 onion chopped
 tsp minced garlic 
2 pieces of turkey bacon Applegate brand or uncured Trader Joe's is clean 
1 ounce of shrimp 
1/2 Quinoa 
1 cup chicken broth 
1 avacado 

Cook the Quinoa in the chicken broth as directed on the package
 I ended up having to add a little more broth.
Saute the onions and spinach in coconut oil add the onions first when those are nearly ready add the shrimp,  spinach, mushrooms and garlic. Add the cooked Quinoa to the sauteed veggies season with sea salt.
Measure out equal servings into two bowls.

Cook the turkey bacon in the microwave. 
Half the avocado and cube.

Each bowl gets one slice of crumbled bacon and one half of the avocado give them a good stir.
ENJOY !

Believe it or not this big bowl of yumminess only came up to around 440 calories 
My husband added an apple and I added 1/2 grapefruit to get this lunch up to the 500 calorie mark.

You can find the Quinoa, organic chicken broth, and precooked shrimp at Costco.






Monday, February 4, 2013

Smokey Joe Grilled Shrimp Kabobs


Grilled shrimp Kabobs


This is the perfect low calorie high nutrition dinner !
My family loves shrimp ,and the kids loved 
making their own kabobs. 

You'll need
2 pounds shrimp we bought the precooked tail off shrimp from Costco 
this fed 7 of us.
Your favorite veggies we used
 mushrooms, onions, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper 
a couple limes 
salt/pepper 
garlic 
chili powder 
African smoke seasoning (Trader Joe's)

The shrimp needs to be thawed, follow the package directions 
place in a bowl drain any excess water
Drizzle with Olive oil &
squeeze the lime juice over the shrimp
give them a stir to coat 
add a tablespoon minced garlic 
2 teaspoon chili powder 
salt and pepper to taste
top with a good amount of African Smoke Seasoning 
stir the shrimp again so they are all covered 
chop the onion and bell pepper into pieces large enough to be skewered

Put them on the on the skewers if you are using the bamboo ones, soak them in water first so they don't catch fire ! (This is so something I would do) 

Grill just long enough for the vegetables to be roasted and  the shrimp to be heated up and ENJOY ! We had some left over shrimp we used with our salads the next day.

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