Tag Archives: healthy meals

That scary word…..”Fat”

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I’m sure people are going to think I’m ridiculous for saying this, but I wish we could rename fats, from food, something else. Yeah yeah I know it sounds stupid. But a good majority of the general public sees that word and freaks out. I think it’s due to the word association with the word body fat. We define fat (from the body) as connective tissue that stores cellular fat. Or….the yellow blob stuff that we see in pictures in ads and learned about in heath class.

Body fat is not the same as food fat. Will fats from food make you fat? Yes and no. It’s all about portioning and eating the correct fats. If you eat a proper amount of fats, you can make it work to your advantage. With that being said, I’m referring to fats from avocado, olive oil, eggs, etc. NOT fats from things like Doritos, pastries, sugary drinks, etc. Should you completely avoid the “bad fats” all together? Some would argue yes. I say no. That’s what cheat meals are for! I don’t recommend consuming them every day but on occasion is fine! If you can completely avoid them all together, more power to you! I however want a greasy burger and pizza every so often. 😉

Fats are a good thing! Let’s stop being so scared of them! Use them as fuel for your body and don’t feel bad about consuming them, when they’re the good kind. Eat your avocados every day, and eat those eggs! They are fantastic for your body. Just make sure to portion things out properly! Figure out how much fat is recommended for your body per day. Once you understand the fat amounts in each food, you can portion things visually and it becomes really easy! Let’s get back to enjoying foods (especially ones with FAT) and not being scared of them! 🍴💪🏻

Ponzu Salmon and Rice

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Last night I made ponzu salmon and rice. It was under 500 calories and incredibly filling. Decently easy and tasted great!

Ingredients:

🔹2 salmon filets (6oz)

🔹6 oz cremini mushrooms

🔹2 garlic cloves

🔹2 green onions

🔹1/2 cup jasmine rice (can sub brown rice)

🔹2 oz peas

🔹1 oz ponzu sauce

Recipe:

Bring a pot of 1 1/2 cups of water to boil. Pour in rice. Reduce to simmer and cook until tender. 18-20 minutes

While rice cooks chop mushrooms and onion. Mince garlic. Rinse salmon and pat dry. Combine ponzu, ginger and green onions. Place 2 tbsp of mixture in a separate small bowl and set aside.

Spray a medium nonstick pan with cooking spray. Place over medium heat. Add mushrooms to pan and cook until soft. Add rice, peas and garlic. Cook till peas are warm. Mix in ponzu sauce mixture. Cover and remove from burner.

Spray a second medium nonstick pan with cooking spray. Place over medium heat. Add salmon. Sear until golden brown. 4-6 minutes each side.

Plate salmon and rice mixture. Pour remaining 2 tbsp of ponzu mixture over salmon. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Salmon

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Dinner last night was a brown sugar salmon. I’m not a huge fan of salmon but my husband is. So I try to make it at least once a week. Plus it’s good for me so I suck it up and eat it. This recipe is super easy and tastes great!

Ingredients:

✴️ 2 Salmon filets

✴️ 2 Potatoes

✴️ 8 oz green beans

✴️ 1/2 oz Dijon mustard

✴️ 1/2 oz light brown sugar

✴️ 1 oz milk

✴️ 1 Clove garlic

✴️ Salt

✴️ Pepper

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400

Rinse green beans and chop off ends. Rinse off potatoes and chop into cubes. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. I’m a small bowl combine mustard and brown sugar. Rinse off salmon and pat dry. Mince garlic and set aside.

Place potatoes in a small pot and boil. Cook until tender, 14-18 minutes. While potatoes cook, place salmon on a nonstick pan and sear. 2-4 minutes on each side. Remove from burner and place on baking sheet. Brush salmon with brown sugar mixture. Roast in oven for 7-10 minutes.

Return pan used to cook salmon to medium heat. Add green beans, 1 tap olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook beans for 6-8 minutes.

Drain potatoes. Mash potatoes and mix in milk, sour cream and garlic.

Plate dish and enjoy! 🍴

Chicken Enchilada Bowl

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I’m a sucker for easy healthy recipes. Especially during the week when I’m tired and don’t have a lot of time to cook. I made this meal a few nights ago and it turned out fantastic! I call it a chicken enchilada bowl!

Ingredients:

✴️ 2 Boneless Skinless chicken beasts

✴️ 1 poblano pepper

✴️ 1 Zucchini

✴️ 1 Yellow squash

✴️ 1 Onion

✴️ 1 oz shredded cheddar

✴️ 1 oz sour cream

✴️ 6 oz enchilada sauce

✴️ 1 tsp chipotle seasoning

✴️ 1/2 ounce tortilla strips

Recipe:

Chop the veggies into bite sized pieces. Pat chicken dry and chop into cubes. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in nonstick pan over medium heat.Stir occasionally until lightly browned. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Return pan used to cook chicken to medium heat. Add in veggies and cook till soft. Add in chicken, enchilada sauce, and chipotle seasoning. Stir for 2-3 minutes.

Plate chicken mixture and top with cheese, tortilla strips, and sour cream. Enjoy!! 🍴

Note: This recipe is is under 500 calories per serving!

The breakfast blame game

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I had a friend tell me she doesn’t have time to make breakfast so she skips it, makes a coffee and heads out the door to work every day. She blames this on why she’s starving before lunch and ends up eating horrible the rest of the day, therefore causing her to gain weight.

So here’s the thing……YOU decide what goes in your belly. We really can’t blame anyone (or anything) but ourselves for the choices we make. That doughnut at your office does not literally call your name every morning. 😡

If you know you battle to eat good during the day and breakfast is something you are clearly struggling with, you have options…..

1. Premake your breakfast the night before to save time! Make a to-go container of Greek yogurt with berries. Or try overnight oats and mix in a few of your favorite items like fruit, chia seeds, almonds, coco powder or almonds!

2. Wake up earlier!!! Seriously there are so many breakfast options that take less than 5 minutes. Things like avocado toast with eggs, peanut butter toast with banana, or even a protein shake with fruit and spinach mixed in. All of these take less than 5 minutes to make. Set your alarm to go off 15 minutes earlier so you have time to make the food and eat it.

You have options! When I was a teacher I had to be to school at 6:30am to be at my morning duty spot at 6:50am, then class started at 7:30am. Not to mention I had a 20 minute drive. Making breakfast at 5:45 in the morning was just not an option for me. Well, it could have been but I’m not the best morning person when it’s THAT early. 😂

I always pre made meals. Sometimes I made these egg muffins that I would just pop in the microwave and eat in the car. I used muffin tins to make them every Sunday (recipe will be on my blog next week). Some days I would just hard boil eggs and leave a bowl of them in the fridge to grab and take to eat while at my duty spot.

Stop making excuses and do something! If you want to eat better and your problem starts with breakfast, then fix it! Small changes make a big difference! 💪🏻

Note: Yes I know there are diets out there that encourage breakfast fasting. But this doesn’t work for everyone. Especially her if she’s repeating the vicious cycle of eating bad daily because she’s hungry from not eating breakfast. Some people lack the self control ability to do a breakfast fast and not destroy the rest of their day after.

Protein Pancakes

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Today I made my first attempt at protein pancakes. Ryder is being weird about food. He only eats grilled meats so I’m trying to find ways to sneak a little protein into his diet. Momma doesn’t have time to grill meat every day for him. 😂

They weren’t the prettiest looking pancakes but they turned out ok. The flavor was good, they were just a little on the dry side. I’m thinking if I add a banana or avocado next time it’ll help a bit. Below is the recipe. It makes about 9 silver dollar size pancakes. If you know of another way to make protein pancakes that are moist, please send it my way! 💙 🥞

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 1/2 scoops protein powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup skim milk or almond milk

Recipe:

Place a nonstick pan or pancake pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray

Add eggs, protein, and baking powder to large bowl and whisk. Add in the milk slowly till batter becomes smooth.

Pour batter in pan one tbsp at a time. Each pancake should take about 2 tbsp. Flip when bubbles form at top.

Plate and serve with fruit or syrup!🍴

41 cal

1g carb

1g fat

6g protein

Gluten Free Chicken Marsala

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Last night for dinner I made a Gluten Free Chicken Marsala. I’m not a huge fan of pasta but it turned out pretty good! Each serving was under 400 calories and it took just 25 minutes to prep and cook.

Ingredients:

•2 boneless chicken breast

•6 oz broccoli

•1 cup pasta noodles (I use gf)

•2 tsp chicken semi glace

•6 oz mushrooms

•4 oz cream

•3 oz Marsala wine

•2 oz peas

•1 shallot

Recipe:

Cut mushrooms into 1/4 slices. Dice shallot. Cut broccoli into bite size pieces. Pat chicken dry and cut into small pieces. Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat a pot of water for noodles. Once boiling add in noodles. Cook until soft. If GF 7-8 minutes

Place medium non stick pan over high heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and cook chicken for 3-4 minutes. Chicken will finish cooking in a later step. Set chicken aside.

Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to used chicken pan. Toss in shallot and mushrooms. Stir occasionally. 2-4 minutes. Add Marsala and stir occasionally until reduced. 2-3 minutes. Stir and in cream, broccoli, 2 tbsp water, demi glace, 1/4 tbsp salt and a pinch of pepper.

Return chicken to veggie pan to continue cooking. Bring to simmer. Simmer until sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Add in pasta and peas. Reduce heat and mix. Let sit for 1 minute to warm peas. Plate and serve!

This will serve about 3 people (can stretch for 4) Happy eating! 🍴

355 Cal

24g Carb

31g Protein

1052g Sodium

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

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Last nights dinner was one of the easiest meals I’ve made and SO good. Teriyaki chicken lettuce wraps. Just 7 ingredients and it takes less than 20 minutes to prep and cook!

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 head of butte lettuce

1/2 oz honey

3 oz shredded carrots

1/2 oz almonds

2 tsp of sriracha (add more if you like spicy)

3 oz teriyaki glaze

Recipe:

Separate lettuce for cups and rinse. Pat dry with paper towel. Dice up chicken and season with salt and pepper

Place a non stick pan over medium high heat and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add chicken and cook until browned (or no longer pink in middle) 3-5 minutes

Add in carrots and stir until carrot is tender (about 3 minutes)

Remove from burner and stir in teriyaki, honey and sriracha. Put chicken mixture into lettuce cups and top with almonds.

Enjoy!! 🍴😍

554 Cals

31g Carbs

28g Fat

47g Protein

Sometimes a salad isn’t what it seems…..

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Food can be VERY deceiving. People see certain meals and because there are healthy items in them, they automatically think it’s a healthy meal. What we often forget is the added sauces and things that completely kill the meal. For example, my dinner last night was an ahi tuna salad. It has seared tuna, arugula, mango, tomato, noodles, avocado, almonds and a ginger dressing. Doesn’t sound too bad right? Take a look at the nutrition breakdown:

920 cals

64g fat

60g carbs

33g sugar

36g protein

Notice how high the calories and sugars are! 920 calories in ONE serving. Just because it’s a salad does not mean it’s going to be healthy. The little items like dressing, noodles, and the avocado jack up the sugar, fat and calories drastically! Yes things like avocado are great for you. But in the proper amounts. If you removed the dressing, noodles and cut the avocado amount in half, you would see a drastic drop in these numbers

By no means am I telling you to not eat certain things. Im just encouraging you to be cautious. Enjoy a salad like this every so often. But I wouldn’t recommend it daily. As I said before, just because something has healthy items in it, that doesn’t make it healthy for you. Know what you’re eating! Don’t be afraid to be high maintenance at a restaurant and ask to remove things or put dressing on the side. Especially if you’re trying for a healthier option. You can make restaurant meals work for you and your diet!

Happy eating! 🍴😉💙

Jerk chicken & veggies

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Ingredients:

•2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

•2oz jerk sauce

•2tsp chipotle seasoning

•1 lime

•1 red bell pepper

•2 zucchini

Recipe:

Chop veggies and toss in 1tbsp olive oil, lime juice and chipotle seasoning.

Chop chicken into pieces. Cook chicken on medium high heat in a nonstick pan until no longer pink. Turn heat down to low and pour in jerk sauce. Coat all of chicken and let sit, mixing occasionally while veggies cook.

Cook veggies on medium high heat on a grill pan. Cook each side 2-3 minutes.

Plate chicken and veggies and enjoy!

427 cal

19g fat

18g carbs

42g protein