Tag Archives: healthy eating

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!!

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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.**

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.

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.

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

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

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Meal Prep

The key to the 21 Day Fix is meal preparations.  I decided I’m only willing to eat food that have been in containers for three days at a time, so here is what my three days looks like!

Breakfast:
Shakeology:  Shakeology, 1/2 banana, flax seeds, coffee

Mid-morning snack:  1 egg cup with tortilla

Lunch:  Chicken, Veggie Mix

Mid-Afternoon snack: 2nd Egg cup/whole wheat tortilla, Fruit

Dinner:  Pork tenderloin, Lettuce w/ Balsamic Vinegar, Veggie Mix

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Interested in joining me on this journey, get your 21 Day Fix HERE!!!

What’s your favorite?

I started the 21 Day Fix this week.  It’s going to be so easy to stay on track with my diet if I am able to prepare my meals for the week each Sunday.  This should eliminate me making those bad food choices when I get hungry.  No more binge eating for me!! Meal prepping can be a pain, though, so it’s nice to be able to eliminate the preparation for one meal a day by substituting Shakeology.  I drink the Shakeology for breakfast since I’m not always in the mood to eat when I get up!  I’m still debating over which one is my favorite.  What’s yours?

If you haven’t tried Shakeology yet, you can order it here today!!
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Mock Dreamland Chicken

Going out to eat can be a little difficult when you are doing low carb! Luckily, I’ve found a restaurant that seems to “get” that!! We stumbled upon Becks as a low carb option when my dad wanted to go there for his birthday. When we went, we all got burgers, but we noticed someone eating chicken and vegetables.  At the time, we weren’t doing low carb, but it stuck in the back of our minds.  Fast forward a couple of months and we remembered Becks for a low carb meal.  I got the Dreamland, which turned out to be delicious.  I thought I would attempt to create the recipe at home:

Ingredients:
1 Sliced onion
Sliced mushrooms (I bought them pre-cut)
Olive Oil
Butter
Chicken
Worcestershire sauce
Lemon Pepper
Swiss Cheese
Hickory BBQ sauce

Directions:
Caramelize the onions and mushrooms in a pan.  I put a teaspoon of olive oil and a tiny pat of butter in the pan to help caramelize it.
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Cook the chicken any way you want, but I baked mine.  I marinated mine with a little bit of lemon pepper and a little bit of Worcestershire sauce.  Once the chicken is cooked through, put some swiss cheese on top of it and put it back in the oven for a minute or two or until the cheese starts to melt. IMG_1561

Put the chicken on a plate and add the mushrooms/onion mix.

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Cover the chicken, mushrooms, and onions with hickory BBQ sauce.

IMG_1564I thought my rendition of the Dreamland was just as good, if not better!  Yea me!!

Eggs on the Go!

I’m constantly looking for recipes for my low carb diet.  I was really excited when I found this idea that is easy to make AND a great time-saver!!

You can make about a week’s worth of eggs at one time using this recipe. I’m eating these for my mid-morning snack, but you can also eat it for breakfast or at some other time.

I worry about leftovers going bad, so I didn’t make all twelve eggs, but I think these should last about a week.  Although, if it smells bad, don’t eat it!! I figure it will be about three days before they’re all eaten.

 

Ingredients:
Eggs
Pre-cooked sausage
Cheese
Jalapenos

**You can add other ingredients that you like, such as spinach, mushrooms, onions, etc.  These are the things I like!

Directions:
Spray pam on a muffin pan.  Add egg, sausage, cheese and jalapeños.  Put in oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Pull out of the oven and put them in your belly or in a tupperware for future meals on the go!

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Italian chicken salad

One thing I will tell you about a cruise is that you WILL gain weight.  I had so much fun on the cruise, but I gained about 6 lbs.  YIKES!  I’d already gained about 15 since I moved back to Dallas, so 6 more is totally not acceptable to me!! PLUS, my 30 year reunion is in 2 more weeks.  So, what is one to do in this situation?  Get back on track.  Start eating healthy.

I went to the book store and got a couple of South Beach Diet books.  I’m not going to do the full diet.  I don’t want anything that is restrictive, but they have some really good recipes in those books.  I’ve already done grocery shopping and plan to eat my own cooking for lunch and dinner rather than eat a lean cuisine at lunch and go to a restaurant for dinner.

This one I kind of made up on my own, but it was really good!!

Baked Italian Chicken:
1 chicken breast
1/4 bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing Lite
Lemon pepper to taste

Put the chicken breast in a pan and cover it with the italian dressing, it doesn’t have to be all the way full of the dressing, just enough so there is a little at the bottom.  Shake as much lemon pepper on top of the chicken as you like.  Put in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour or until cooked thoroughly.

Salad:
50/50 Spring Mix
Zesty Italian Dressing, Lite
Mozzarella cheese
Baked italian dressing
(you can also add tomatoes, onions, etc on top)

Make a bed of lettuce.  Put mozzarella cheese on top of the lettuce. Put chicken strips on top of the cheese. Cover with Italian Dressing.

You now have a healthy salad to eat that will fill you up!!

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