Category Archives: recipes

Chicken pizza casserole

Trying to find keto friendly recipes. I think my husband found this on a Keto For Dummies page, but we added the Raos and didn’t measure. It called for you to shred your chicken and we just bought ground chicken. It worked out great.

I did not use any measurements, I just threw in a bunch of stuff.

Ingredients:
Ground chicken
Cubed zucchini
Whole-milk Ricotta Cheese
Pepperonis
Minced Garlic
Mozarella Cheese
Grated Parmesan
Half bottle of Raos Marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cook chicken in a skillet
Throw in all the ingredients except half the pepperoni and half the mozzarella into a 9X12 pyrex and stir it up real good. Put in the oven for 30 minutes. Take out and add cheese and pepperoni to the top and cook for another 10 minutes.

Turned out delicious! I’ll make this again.

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Sprouts!

I went camping with some friends and learned about growing sprouts! Once I got home, I decided to give it a try and I’m so glad I did!! Some of the benefits of eating sprouts are: they are biogenic and produce life in our body, rival meat in nutritive value, full of antioxidants, high in fiber, and full of vitamins and minerals.

If you want to give it a try, this is how I did it:

I bought a mason jar sprouting kit and put a table spoon of sprout seeds in a jar, with about an inch of water. I left this in the pantry with the light out over night. I used a spicy variety, but there are tons of different options to try. Two times a day, I rinsed and drained the jar and then put it back in the dark pantry for a total of five days. On the fifth day, I let it sit out on the counter for about a half a day to get some sun.

At the end of the day, I de-hulled the sprouts by using a salad spinner, filling it with water and draining it, sifting out as many hulls as I could until most of them were gone. Then I spun it, put all the sprouts in a baggie and put it in the fridge.

I made a really delicious salmon salad and threw on the sprouts! It was DELICIOUS!!! I highly recommend.

This next time, I’m going to try to grow some mung beans, since they look a little thicker and I think I would like the crunch!!

Affiliate links to amazon were used in this blog.

Air Fryer

My husband and I are on a new diet that is really working for both of us.  So far, after 11 weeks, we are down a total of 68 lbs.  I’m down 26 and he’s down 42!  We are hoping that the weight loss will lead to less medications.  We’ll find out about that on Thursday.  One of the things that we are doing is using an air fryer to cook our lean and green meals.  I love this air fryer because it’s SOOOO easy to cook great food with it.  I cooked this salmon in 10 minutes.  All I did was get Salmon, sprinkle some Ms. Dash on it, and turn it on for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Bam! The Lean part of my meal is complete!! I highly recommend this air fryer.  It’s really easy to use and cleans up easily too!

**Average weight loss for Clients on the Optimal Weight 5&1 Plan with support is 20 pounds. Clients are in weight loss, on average, for 12 weeks.**

Cajun Chicken and Sausage

I’m doing the Transformation Challenge at Orange Theory, so currently really pushing myself to eat healthy. I’m tracking what I eat and trying to make good choices.  First week down and I did pretty good.  The key is all about being prepared. This week, I was prepared for lunch with this delicious meal!

Ingredients:

  • 1 container (28 spears ea.), Asparagus Spears
  • 1 container (16 oz ea.), Smoked Sausage
  • 1 tablespoon, Oil – Olive
  • 24 oz, Chicken
  • 2 squash, Cooked
  • 2 tsp, Cajun Seasoning

I used a wok, since it holds the most food of all my pans.  I put a little olive oil, then threw in the squash and zucchini.

Then I threw in the asparagus and sprinkled the cajun seasoning all over it.

Then I added the (precooked frozen) chicken and Ekrich Sausage. 

This is SOOO delicious!!! Definitely going to be a staple for my meal prep.

Instant Pot Crack Chicken

Yes, I’ve jumped on the Instant Pot bandwagon!  I’ve been searching for easy recipes that scream, “Cook ME!”  The one I kept seeing was “Crack Chicken”.  Well, with a name like that, you have to expect the results to be phenomenal!! Guess what!?  It is!! Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 packet of ranch seasoning
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup water
8 – 10 slices cooked bacon
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:  Throw the chicken, water, ranch seasoning and cream cheese into the Instant Pot (IP).  Set the timer on manual high for 25 minutes.

Remove the Chicken and shred it.Pour out a little of the juice left by the chicken.  Add cheese and bacon, then stir.  Then add the shredded chicken back into the juice and let it cook for a little longer to get it all mixed up good.

Serve on bread, tortillas, etc.  I used a low carb pita one time, but ate it with no bread too. This is a really easy good go-to recipe when you’re in a hurry to come up with something everyone will enjoy!

Low Carb Taco Bake

CRUST
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
13 cup heavy cream
12 teaspoon taco seasoning
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

TOPPING
1 lb ground beef
3 teaspoons taco seasoning
1cup low carb tomato sauce
4 ounces chopped green chilies
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

Crust: beat the cream cheese and eggs until smooth, then add in cream and seasoning.
Spread cheese over a 9 X 13 pan with parchment paper on it, then pour in the egg mixture as evenly as possible. Bake at 375ºF, 25-30 minutes or more. Let stand 5 minutes before adding the topping.

Topping: brown the hamburger; drain fat. Stir in the seasoning, tomato sauce and chiles. Spread over the crust. Top with cheese. Reduce oven to 350ºF and bake another 20 minutes or so until hot and bubbly. Serve with the toppings of your choice. I used guacamole. I think sour cream would be good too!

Click link to see original recipe!

 

Low carb steak fried “rice”

As always, I’m trying to figure out what the best diet is for me to help me lose weight.  I’ve always had a pretty good work out ethic, until recent years, so my new obsession with Orange Theory Fitness is really going well.  I have gone 3 – 6 times a week since I started in late October.  I have to do better with food though!! I think a low carb diet is probably going to work the best for me. I’ve been interested in the Keto diet, but I haven’t been able to get low enough in carbs each day.  I’ve kind of decided that my diet will be lower in carbs with the majority of the carbs happening with my breakfast shake, (which has a banana in it).

One of my go-to staples in this diet is the cauliflower fried “rice” plate.  It’s super easy to make, especially if you buy the cauliflower fried rice package in the vegetable section.  Here is my recipe:

2 bags of cauliflower fried rice packages
5 scrambled eggs
1 carton of sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 pound of stew meat or cubed steak (or chicken)
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
soy sauce to taste

1st step:  Scramble an egg then put it to the side.

Step 2: In another pan or wok, put sesame oil then add two packages of Cauliflower Crumbles “Fried Rice” Blend.  (If you want to add mushrooms, I’d put the mushrooms in before you put the cauliflower crumbles.) img_4043

3rd step:  Stir in soy sauce to taste and cook until semi-translucent.  

4th step:  Stir in the scrambled eggs and the stew or steak meat.  Add more soy sauce if you like it.  

This is seriously the best low carb meal I make.  I highly recommend it to everyone doing any kind of diet.  You can substitute chicken instead of meat if you like.  Or you can add no meat at all and use as a side dish.  There are a lot of options with this deliciousness!! This makes anywhere from 6 – 8 servings.

Chicken Spaghetti

Whole wheat pasta broken in half
Can of mushroom soup
Big block of Velveeta 2%
Can of petite diced tomatoes
Can of Ro-Tel
Garlic to taste
4 Baked Shredded Chicken Breast
About a cup of shredded Mozzarella

Bake some chicken. I baked the chicken breast covered with some lemon pepper, woo, and some other spices I found in my cabinet.  I put it on 450 for about 50 minutes.  After I pulled it out of the oven, I shredded while it was still hot.

Boil some spaghetti.  I like the whole wheat pasta, myself. Drain. Put back in the pot.

Add in cut up Velveeta, a can of cream of mushroom soup, chicken, can of Rotel, and a can of diced tomatoes.  If you like additional spices, you can add garlic and pepper, too. Stir this up until the Velveeta is melty.  I had to keep the burner on low to help with the melting.

Put all of this in a big pyrex pan.  Add Mozzarella cheese on top.

Put in the oven and cook at 375 for about 35 minutes, or until your cheese gets a little burnt looking.

Serve and enjoy!!

21 Day Fix Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients
3 Large Zucchini
Grandma’s sauce (from Fixate cookbook) with ground beef
Mozzarella Cheese
2 Eggs
Cottage Cheese
Turkey Pepperoni (optional)

Directions:
Make a mixture of eggs, cottage cheese and Mozzarella Cheese
Cut Zucchini into strips
Make Grandma’s Tomato Sauce with browned ground beef

Put a layer of the meat sauce, then a layer of zucchini, then a layer of meat sauce.

IMG_2276-1
Put a layer of the mozzarella cheese/egg/Cottage cheese mix on top of that.
IMG_2277-1
Cook in oven at 350 for 40 minutes.
IMG_2278Put mozzarella on top, then cover with the turkey pepperoni. Cook for another 20 minutes.

 IMG_2282-1

Depending on how much you eat, you will use at least a green, blue, purple, and red.

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Easy banana pudding 

This year we volunteered to bring banana pudding to the family Thanksgiving dinner.  I’m not sure what made my husband volunteer for this since neither of us has ever made banana pudding, but he did.  So here it is.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I’m sure that grandmothers everywhere are shaking their head at us since we went the easy route, but I’m not ready to attempt any of those hard recipes; especially, when this easy recipe is so good.

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese (softened)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (Fat Free)
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 sliced bananas
12 ounce package vanilla wafers

In a large bowl, beat the cheese until fluffy.  Add in condensed milk, pudding mix, cold milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.  Fold in 1/2 of the whipped topping.

Line the bowl with vanilla wafers, layer banana slices on top of that.  Put a layer of the 1/2 pudding mix.  Layer wafers, bananas, then pudding.  On top of that cover with vanilla wafers, bananas and top with leftover whipped topping.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

YUM!!

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