Meal Monday: Not So Chunky Monkey Smoothie

I discovered something this morning that might be my new favorite thing ever.  

PB2 - powdered peanut butter!

At only 45 calories for 2 TBSP, it comes in a couple hundred less than the alternative natural peanut butter or nut butter.  I'm not sure how healthy it is but the only ingredients are peanuts, sugar and salt, so I'm going to keep trying to find ways to use it.

Today, I made a *not so* Chunky Monkey smoothie in my Ninja.

1 frozen banana

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

2 Tbsp PB2

a dash or so of cinnamon

Throw it all in the Ninja or blender of your choice and enjoy.  

Calories: 171

Fat: 4g

Carbs: 27g

Protein: 7g

I could probably add some protein powder to up the protein but today I just paired it with a scrambled egg and my usual coffee with SF Coffeemate.  I'm afraid the protein powder might make it too sweet, but I'm definitely going to give it a try sometime.  Total calories for breakfast came in around 270.

So far, aside from my yummy smoothie, Monday has kicked my ass.  I missed my workout because I just couldn't get up so now I need 3 workouts tonight instead of the 2 I already had planned and my van keeps finding ways to break and ruin any plans I may have because I keep having to sink money into the dumb thing. 

I know they say that your day is determined by your attitude, but I'm having a hard time being positive and not giving up.  Tell me something good that has happened to you recently and maybe I can live vicariously through you for awhile.

Meal Monday: Carnitas Tacos #paleo

Today's blog post comes courtesy of last night's dinner.  This dinner was sort of contrived while sitting in my car outside the grocery store.  I knew I wanted to make a pork or beef taco type thing in the crockpot, so I hit up trusty Pinterest for ideas.  This is the result.

1. Take a 3 pound pork loin and cut off some of the big fat piece.  Rub with cumin, sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  Brown on all sides in a skillet with olive oil for a few minutes on each side.

2.  Put into a crock pot with 1/2 an onion quartered and a couple spoonfuls of minced garlic.  Add a 16 oz jar of Salsa Verde.  Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.  Mine was taking a long time so with about 1 hour to go, I chopped the pork into smaller hunks and turned it up to high.

3.  When the pork can shred easily with a fork, shred it in the liquid and add a handful of fresh cilantro.  Stir and let it sit for a few minutes while you get everything else together.
4.  Remove meat to a bowl using a slotted spoon to drain off most of the liquid.

5.  Serve on corn tortillas (not totally paleo) with whatever toppings you'd like.  Mine had sour cream, lettuce, tomato, homemade guacamole, more salsa verde, more cilantro and a squeeze of lime.


Totally delish and everyone in the house loved it.  Tacos are great like that because the family can top them however they want.

Meal Monday: salsa!

What do you do when your garden explodes and does this...

You scour Pinterest for salsa recipes and make this...

This was probably the easiest salsa recipe I've ever made.  Normally, I do a pico de gallo type salsa but I just didn't feel like chopping all the ingredients.  For this one, you cut the tops off the veggies, maybe cut them in to big chunks, and if you are like me, squeeze some of the seeds out of the tomatoes.  Throw it all in a blender and pulse to your desired consistency.  I like my salsa with a little more of a kick, so I used two whole jalapenos (minus most of the seeds).  Next batch, I'll probably leave more seeds in because this one didn't get quite hot enough.  I also used a cilantro paste I picked up at the store the other day instead of fresh cilantro.  I won't do that again because there wasn't enough cilantro flavor.  The rest of the recipe I pretty much followed as written.

You can find the recipe here!

Do you like your salsa chunky or smooth?

PS: Nancy was the winner of my birthday giveaway and will be getting a little something from me.

Meal Monday: Mug Quiche

One of my friends suggested this to me and while it's not totally paleo it probably could be with some tweaks. The best part? It's quick for a breakfast on the go.

Mug Quiche

This was a huge mug so there's
a lot more in there than appears.

First you need a coffee cup.

Break one egg into the cup and add a couple tbsp of milk. Scramble.

Add a slice of bread ripped up (I used half a gluten free hamburger bun).

Add any veggies or cooked meat you'd like. Mine had mushrooms, green pepper, jalapeño, and a slice of cooked bacon. You could also add cheese if you wanted.

Stir it all together. Nuke on high for 90 seconds.


Voila! Quiche in a cup!  This was a nice change of pace from my usual scrambled or over easy eggs.

What would you put in your quiche?

Meal Monday: Cranberry and Kale Turkey Burgers #recipe

This is another great recipe I found on Ziplist.  You can find the original recipe from Love and Zest here.

Since I didn't really change the recipe at all, other than leaving out the shallot because I didn't have it, I'm not going to reproduce the whole thing.

I cooked our turkey burgers on the grill and they definitely took a good 8 minutes per side.  I'm fine with a medium rare hamburger, but for turkey I wanted it cooked through.  They might have been a touch overdone though.  Maybe next time I should use a thermometer.

Since I'm still not eating breads, I had mine plain with a knife and fork, but Mike put his on a bun.  The kids wouldn't touch them so the first picture shows basically 1/2 a batch.  The original recipe says 6 burgers but I ended up making 4 with a 1.25 pound package of ground turkey.  If you make it into 4 burgers, they are around 300 calories each. I served the burgers with a side of roasted sweet potatoes (cube and roll in coconut oil and minced garlic and roast at 350* for about 30 min turning a few times) and kale chips (not pictured).  Yummy and healthy.  If you are trying to stay more paleo, you could leave out the blue cheese and I think they would turn out fine.  The cheese definitely added a nice flavor though.

Do you have a great turkey burger recipe?

Menu Monday: Zucchini Hummus #paleo

One of my go-to party foods has always been hummus.  I have a couple great recipes that I bring to get togethers but sadly, hummus is not considered paleo thanks to the chickpeas.

We were invited to a friend's place Friday night and I spent part of Thursday trying to decide what to bring.  I wanted something that I'd be allowed to eat since I was pretty sure most of the food there would be off limits.  I stumbled upon this hummus recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a shot.

I thought there was no way it would be thick like regular hummus given the water content in zucchini or taste even close, but surprisingly, it was a very good.  It really DID taste like hummus and the spicy peppers and pine nuts on top gave it a little zing.  I made 1/2 a batch, which yielded about 2 cups of hummus.  It was especially good with the cukes and a few people at the party had it with chips and said they really liked it.  I think I'm going to try making a roasted red pepper version since that's my favorite flavor of hummus.

Do you like hummus?  What's your standard potluck contribution?

Meal Monday: Spaghetti Squash with Italian Chicken Sausage

I bought a spaghetti squash last week at the grocery store not knowing what I was going to do with it.  Pinterest came to the rescue with a few ideas that I combined into this one recipe.  It was so incredibly easy that I ended up throwing together another batch for lunch with leftover squash the next day.

Spaghetti Squash with Italian Chicken Sausage
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash, cooked and "spaghetti'd" (I think I did mine cut in half and cooked for about 12 minutes in the nuker)

2 Italian Chicken sausages (I like al fresco sweet Italian with red and green peppers because it doesn't have cheese in it)

Sliced red bell pepper

Fresh baby spinach

Minced garlic

Olive oil

1/2 to 1 cup Marinara Sauce (I like Rao's Marinara)

Fresh basil

Directions:

1. Slice the chicken sausage into pieces and saute in large skillet with olive oil and minced garlic. After a few minutes, add the red pepper slices and saute until crisp but tender.  When it's almost done, add the spinach and saute until slightly wilted.
2. Add about 2 heaping cups of spaghetti squash and 1/2-1 cup marinara sauce.
3. Mix until combined and heated through.  Top with basil to serve.
4. Devour

This is probably one of the easiest recipes EVER and it was so yummy.  You could really change it up by using different flavors of sausage, adding other veggies, etc.  You will probably have leftover squash so feel free to experiment!

Have you ever had spaghetti squash?  What ingredients do you think would make this even better?

Meal Monday: Chicken Fried "rice" - a winner!

In my quest for paleo-ish, healthier dishes, I stumbled upon this recipe from The Lemon Bowl, Sriracha Chicken Cauliflower "Fried Rice".  

I'm not going to repost the whole recipe - if you want it, you should go give Liz some blog love, because this isn't the first of her recipes that has been a real winner.

I did make a few changes - no white onion because they bother my stomach and no sriracha because we didn't have any well, we did but it expired 2 years ago #fail.  Instead of chopping up carrots, I bought a bag of the frozen peas and carrots and used 2 cups. This was perfect.

I loved this meal.  It really tasted just like fried rice.  I can't explain it.  Maybe it was the sesame oil or something but this dish will definitely making another appearance.

A note about the cauliflower rice.  There is a video in the link that shows how it's done.  Cut it up, throw it in a blender, fill the blender with water, blend and drain. DONE.  I might have tried to squeeze more of the water out because it didn't crisp up quite enough, but for my first attempt, it worked for me.  This also made excellent leftovers the next day.
Have you ever had cauliflower rice?

Meal Monday: Broccoli Beer Cheese Soup

I found this recipe on Ziplist and it was incredible. I went with a Michigan Beer - Bellaire Brown from Shorts Brewing and I recommend any local brown ale when you try it. I'd avoid any hoppy beer, like an IPA, because it will be too bitter and overpower the soup.


The recipe came from Taste of Home according to Ziplist, so I'm not going to duplicate it here.  Go to this link on Ziplist for the recipe.

I did make one small change when I made the soup.  I cut the recipe in half and used a little bit more chicken broth than called for and only about 3 or 4 ounces of beer.  It was perfect.  I think I still ended up with 6 or 7 servings and it was great for lunches for a couple days.  The original recipe has some tips for freezing the soup, which you could definitely do if you made a full batch.


Now that fall has arrived in Michigan, I'm sure many more soups will be making it into the rotation. Do you have a favorite fall soup?

Meal Monday: Taco Stuffed Shells #recipe

Someone posted this recipe to Facebook last week so I thought I'd give it a shot.  We eat tacos almost every week at my house and this sounded like a nice change of pace.

Taco Stuffed Shells

1 lb ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 4-oz pkg cream cheese
12 large pasta shells
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
2 cups shredded cheese (I used co-jack)
1 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips
Any other taco "stuff" you like for serving - lettuce, pico, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, etc

Cook up meat and mix in taco seasoning as usual.  Then add in cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted.  Stir until combined.  Let it cool while you cook the shells.  After shells are cooked, drain and toss with a little butter.

Pour salsa into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Stuff each with the meat mixture.  Place shells on top of the salsa.

Pour taco sauce over each shell.

Cover and bake inthe oven at 350* for about 30 minutes.  Then, uncover and top each shell with some crushed tortilla chips and cover with cheese.


Put back into the oven for about 15 more minutes or until the cheese is melted and the shells are heated through.


Serve with whatever you normally like on your tacos.


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Meal Monday: Creamy Pork Tenderloin #recipe

Warning: this is NOT health food! If you are ok with that, read on :)

I don't make this very often because a) it isn't exactly low in calories and b) it takes awhile. But my daughter requested it and we had pork tenderloin in the freezer, so I figured what the heck.

Creamy Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:



2 pork tenderloins (about 1 pound each)
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp crushed rosemary
1/4 tsp pepper
Dash garlic powder
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chicken broth
Cooked egg noodles

Cut each tenderloin into 3/4 inch thick slices. In a shallow dish or bowl combine next 5 ingredients. Dip pork in egg mixture & then in breadcrumbs (I shake them in a ziplock).

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown chops in oil for 5 min on each side.


Remove to a 13x9x2 pan and keep warm. In the same skillet, sauté mushrooms in butter until tender.


Stir in soup, sour cream & broth. Heat for a few minutes but don't let it come to a boil. Pour over pork.


Cover and bake at 325* for about an hour or until pork is tender. It will literally be tender enough to cut with a fork. Serve over noodles with a vegetable and green salad on the side.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meal Monday: Turkey Stroganoff #recipe

I had a package of ground turkey in the fridge that needed to be used, so I went searching for a recipe. This is what I found (a Ziplist recipe I modified a tiny bit).

Ground Turkey Stroganoff

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped (I used a small one)
1-1/4 pounds ground turkey
1 package (8 oz) sliced mushrooms
1 large sweet red pepper, cored and chopped
1 can (14.75 oz) chicken broth
3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 pound egg noodles
1/4 cup parsley, chopped (I used a Tbsp dried)


Directions:
1.  In a large, nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat, add onion, and saute for a few minutes or until it starts to soften.  Add turkey and break it up into pieces.  Then add mushrooms and red pepper.  Saute until turkey is no longer pink, about 10 minutes.

2.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together broth, flour, salt, paprika, thyme and black pepper.  Add to skillet and stir.  Bring to a simmer and simmer about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until it's thickened.

3.  Reduce heat to low.  Stir in sour cream and mustard. Heat gently for 1-2 minutes until heated through.  Don't let it come to a boil or it will burn.  Sprinkle with parsley.

4.  Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling water, cook your noodles according to the package directions.  Serve turkey mixture over noodles.  If you want to be healthier, have a salad to go with it :)


According to Ziplist this recipe serves 8 for about 450 calories each, with 18 grams of fat.  Ouch.  I used regular sour cream and might try it with light next time, but overall this was pretty tasty.

Do you ever swap out ground turkey for ground beef?  Definitely a way to lighten up some recipes without sacrificing a ton in taste.

In case you missed it - I posted yesterday at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans on finding balance in your life.  Go check it out!

Meal Monday: Hummus! #recipe

I've wanted to try making my own hummus for years and I finally have a decent food processor so I can make it now! I give you two versions!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

This makes a lot!
32 oz chickpeas - drained and rinsed
12 oz jar roasted red peppers - drained
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2-4 cloves garlic (I ended up using 4)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1/4 cup water
chopped parsley and additional paprika for garnish

Place all ingredients except water and garnish into food processor.  Process on high until hummus consistency.  Add water a little bit at a time until it's the consistency you want.  Taste it a few times to see if you need extra salt or garlic.


Spread some on a plate, top with garnish and enjoy.  Put the rest in the refrigerator - it will be even better later :)

"Original" Hummus

1 16 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup tahini
2 Tbsp lemon (maybe more)
1-2 cloves garlic (I used 2)
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1/4 cup water
chopped parsley and paprika for garnish

Place all ingredients in food processor except water and garnish.  Process on high until mixed - it will be very thick. Add water a little at a time until desired consistency.  Taste along the way to see if you need extra garlic or salt.


To serve, spread on a plate, top with garnish and enjoy!


The red pepper was definitely my favorite but both were very good. Do you have a favorite flavor of hummus? I think I'm going to try pine nut next.

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Meal Monday: Eggplant Parmesean

My girl requested this last week & normally I make it healthier than frying but this time I went with pan frying the eggplant and it was so good.

Peel & slice eggplant about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt & let it sit for a few min. Blot any liquid with paper towel.

Scramble an egg in a bowl. Dip slices in egg then dredge in a mix of seasoned breadcrumbs & Parmesean. Pan fry in butter & oil a couple min on each side until slightly crispy.

Pour a jar of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Lay eggplant slices on top & bake in a 350* oven for about 30 min.

Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and put back in the oven for a few minutes. Serve with a salad, pasta & garlic bread.

Turned out very good for just throwing something together. This is my only eggplant recipe. Do you have a favorite way to prepare eggplant?

Meal Monday: Curried Chicken Salad with Apples

I saved this recipe to ziplist quite a while ago but never got around to making it. That changed yesterday. You can find the original recipe plus ziplist plug in here. Her pictures are also much better than mine, but I don't claim to be any kind of food photographer & I do my best with my little eye phone. In any case, I give you

CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD with APPLES

Ingredients:
8 oz cooked chicken breasts - cubed (I used a large can of Swanson chicken, drained)
4 celery stalks - minced
1 apple - diced
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt (I used Chobani fat free plain)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt


1. Wisk together yogurt, curry powder, lemon juice and salt in a medium bowl.


2.  Add chicken, apples and celery.  Toss well then refrigerate for a while to let the flavors blend.

this picture is terrible - I am sooo sorry

3.  Enjoy!


I really liked this one - the curry gives the chicken salad a nice kick and it's a really pretty color - but I think something is missing.  Next time I make it, I'm going to try crushed pineapple instead of the apple and see how that works. I think grapes would be good too.

What's your favorite addition to chicken salad?

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