Tropical Fruit Quinoa

So I made the blackberry quinoa yesterday and a friend gave me the suggestion of making it with tropical fruit. I love pineapple and coconut so of course I was more than happy to try it out! It turned out really yummy. I used canned fruit though, I can't wait until spring comes and I can get fresh fruit easily. This one is a little higher calorie, but it has a ton a fruit in it and it's super filling.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup milk/soy milk/ coconut mil/ etc
1/4 cup water
1/4 quinoa (rinsed)
1/4 cup pineapple or 2 rings cut into chunks
1/4 cup mandarin oranges (I used a fruit cup)
2 tablespoons coconut

Directions:

Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. Stir in berries and cinnamon.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 355  Carbs: 67  Fat: 8  Protein: 9  Fiber: 6  

Blackberry Quinoa

I have wanted to try to incorporate more quinoa in my diet. I was told about eating as a breakfast cereal so I thought I would experiment. This is what I came up with. It's nice and fruity, but it's also filling and satisfying. I also pit a little cinnamon on top and it reminded me of blackberry cobbler. So try it and let me know what you think about this recipe. 

INGREDIENTS

·         1/4 cup low fat milk/ soy milk/ almond milk etc.

·         1/4 cup water

·         1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed

·         1 cup blackberries

·         1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         2 teaspoons honey or sweetener

DIRECTIONS

Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. Stir in berries and cinnamon.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 237  Carbs: 45  Fat: 4  Protein: 10 Fiber: 11

3-2-1- cake

 Link to recipe

This is a wonderful idea, thanks Jennifer! I have to admit that cake is a major weakness for me, but now I can cake whenever I want! Plus the recipe makes 32 servings so when you have those super strong cravings it's there and ready in 1 minute. You can also put all kinds of toppings on top so it doesn't get boring, just make good choices. For my first try I mixed the angel's food and devil's food....and let me tell you it was sinfully good! The calories change depending on what kind of cake mix you choose but if you use MyFitnessPal to log calories they have several different flavors already calculated. 

Another variation: (I tried this tonight)

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1 tsp sugar/stevia/splenda/etc.

3 tbsp cake mixture 

Fat free ready whip to top

Mix the frozen strawberries and 1tsp sweetener, heat for 2 minutes. No need to add water because the strawberries make their own syrup, just mix in the cake mix and stir. Microwave for 1 minute and yum!

Nutritional Value:

Calories: 134  Carbs: 39g  Fat: 2g  Protein: 3g  Sugars: 14g  Fiber: 2g

Healthy Breakfast Pockets

This is the link to the original recipe that I changed a bit.

Yield: 16 Breakfast Pockets

Ingredients

Dough

·         1 pouch yeast

·         1/2 c warm water

·         3/4 c fat free evaporated milk

·         1/2 c vegetable oil

·         1/4 c sugar

·         1 egg

·         1 tsp salt

·         2 cup whole wheat flour

·         1 ½ all-purpose flour

Filling

·         1 lb sausage (I used the jenni-o Italian flavored ground turkey)

·         1 ¾ cup of liquid eggs (or 7 eggs)

·         1 cup chopped turkey ham

·         1 package weight watchers shredded cheese

·         1 bell pepper chopped

·         1/2 tsp salt

·         1/2 tsp pepper

·         1/2 tsp garlic salt

Instructions

Dough:

1.       In a bowl, dissolve yeast in the water.

2.       Add milk, oil, sugar, egg, salt, and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth.

3.       Add enough flour until it makes a soft dough but do not knead. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Filling:

4.       Cook the sausage and pepper over medium heat until browned. Drain. Add the eggs, turkey ham, and spices. Cook and stir until set. Sprinkle with cheese and keep warm.

Assembling the pockets:

5.       Preheat oven to 350°.

6.       Punch down the dough and cut into 16 equal pieces.

7.       Roll each piece into 7 in circle on a floured surface. Top with 1/3 c filling, fold, and pinch shut. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

To freeze:

8.       Allow to cool on the baking sheet. Once cooled, place in the freezer until frozen. Store in a ziploc bag in the freezer for 3-6 months. To reheat, place on a paper towel and microwave for 1 1/2-2 minutes.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 295 Carbs:25g Fat: 13 Protein: 19 Fiber: 2g

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Link to Recipe

Oh my goodness this a really good recipe! I love when I can find recipes that are yummy and healthy at the same time. This could be good for a breakfast, snack, or dessert. I made a few changes to the recipe. I changed the flour to half all purpose and half whole wheat flour and instead of sugar I used Stevia in the raw, plus I changed it from 32 servings to 24. 

Modified Nutritional info:

Calories: 158  Carbs: 21  Fat: 8  Protein: 4  Fiber: 2

Skinny Baked Spaghetti

If you like Italian food get ready to start loving being on a diet! I've been wanting to make baked spaghetti for a while now, but I wanted it to be healthy. So I started thinking of ways to make it with in a 300 calorie rage so that I could eat it and not feel guilty. Well I did tonight, 1st try and the recipe was a rousing success!!! Try it because baby you will love it! 

Recipe:

Ingredients- 

20 oz Lean ground turkey

26oz Jar/can pasta sauce

2x 8oz bags of Tofu shirataki noodle substitute 

8oz bag of weight watcher shredded cheese

3 cloves garlic 

1 tablespoon Italian spices (or to taste)

1 teaspoon Crushed red pepper (or to taste, optional) 

Directions:

Brown ground turkey with chopped garlic, Italian spices, and crushed red pepper. Once it is cooked add the pasta sauce and simmer for at least 10min. Rinse the shirataki noodles and squeeze as much of the water out as you can. Microwave the noodles for 1 to 2 min then drain any more water that seeps out. Add the noodles to sauce and mix all together. Put in 8x8 pan and cover the top with the entire bag of cheese. Bake for 350 degrees for 45min. Let cool for about 10min, makes 6 servings. 

Nutritional information:

Calories: 279  Carbs: 17g  Fat: 14g  Protein: 30g  Fiber: 4g

He way I used to make it:

Calories: 658.5  Carbs: 13.33g  Fat: 26.33g  Protein: 45g  Fiber: 2g

That is a big difference! But the recipe still tastes just so so good! 

Peanut Butter Brownies

Link to Recipe

This is a really good recipe, it tastes good and it certainly satisfies the sweet tooth. It's amazing to me that you can make brownies with no oil! No oil! Awesome! Plus these were so satisfying that I was content to just have one and put the others away so if you like sweets this is one to try. Unfortunately the picture doesn't make it look too appetizing because I made two mistakes. First I used crunchy peanut butter so the topping didn't get smooth like it was supposed to. Second I cut them when they were too warm...that was dumb. However despite the look they were every tasty. The below picture is how they are supposed to look if you don't make silly mistakes.They are super easy to make and they are kid approved. Both of my nieces loved them. They didn't know that they were secretly healthy :)

Pumpkin Spice Coffee

I was craving a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks this morning, but I knew it was a bad idea. So my lovely friend Keya linked me a recipe to help me out. I doctored it up and found that it was pretty good! Not exactly like Starbucks, but enough like it to kick my craving. 

The original recipe calls for espresso, but I don't have an espresso machine, so I just used strong coffee.

Recipe:

2 tablespoons pumpkin puree 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of your favorite no calorie sweetener

1/2 cup skim milk

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Fat free Reddi whip (optional) 

8oz strong coffee 

Mix all of the ingredients in a small sauce pan until smooth. Heat, but do not bring to a boil. Mix with your coffee or espresso and top with the Reddi whip. Enjoy :)

Nutritional info: 

Cal: 70  Fat: 0g  Sugars: 3g  Protein: 5g

Lets compare that to the Starbucks latte shall we? This is the nutritional information for a 16oz pumpkin spice latte with nonfat milk and whip cream.

Cal: 330  Fat: 7g (4.5 of that is saturated)  Sugars: 50g  Protein: 14g

So they have me beat on the protein, but that's about it. 

Outside-In Turkey Tamale Pie

Link to recipe

I am a Mexican food fiend! It seems like every time we "cheat" on the meal plan it's almost always Mexican food, so I deiced to start finding some healthy versions. This is a yummy crock pot casserole, it takes 3 to 4 hours to cook keep that in mind. Now you can't tell from this picture because of the toppings, but I'm not going to lie it's pretty ugly lol. So if you have a picky eater the look might gross them out, but I assure you that it tastes really good. This is going to be a recipe I use often for sure!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Parfait

Link to Recipe

I thought I would try this recipe because I am trying to will it to be fall. I ate this for breakfast, but I don't know if I would recommend eating it first thing in the morning. This would be a really good dessert or maybe an afternoon snack. The recipe makes one serving, but it is huge so make sure you are really hungry. I wasn't able to eat the whole thing. It was very tasty, however the texture was a little weird because it's cold oatmeal. I'm thinking about playing with the recipe to make a hot version and maybe a little less sweet so I can eat it for breakfast. All in all it is a good recipe and if you like pumpkin flavored things you should try it :)