Chocolate Peanut butter frozen yogurt

If there's one thing in this world I wish I didn't have to cut out of my diet, it would be ice cream. I freakin love it. I could eat it every day for every meal and not get tired of it. But we all know that it has lots of stuff in it that isn't good for those of us looking to get fit. 

I think I found a nice little substitute to satisfy the cravings without undoing a day of healthy eating and intense workouts. 

This is the best yogurt I have found so far. Its really low in carbs and SUPER high in protein without any added junk.

When you mix these two ingredients with some unsweetened cocoa powder and a packet of truvia the magic happens!

1 Cup yogurt

1 tablespoon un-sweetend cocoa powder

1 packet truvia

1 tbls peanut butter

mix it all up in a bowl and place into a freezer safe container. Let it sit in the freezer for at least an hour. If its too frozen, let it thaw a little in the fridge. Super easy and yummy for when your craving something sweet

I love mexican food. But, when I used to make enchiladas with red sauce they were only half enjoyable because of the "twang" taste from the sauce. I really wasn't found of it so I decided to see what I could do about it :)

I came across a recipe for home made sauce, and oh my goodness it tastes  a million times better, is SUPER simple, and is a lot lower in sodium and other additives.

Red Enchilada Sauce

1 tbsp canola oil

1 small sweet yellow onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp chile powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp oregano

1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes

Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

1 tsp honey

Heat the canola oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add in the minced garlic, chile powder, cumin, coriander, and oregano and stir constantly for 1 minute.  Put in the tomatoes (crushed by hand using either a wisk or a potato masher) and juice. Season with salt and pepper, to taste and add the honey then cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.

After the sauce has simmered for 30 minutes, blend the sauce with an immersion blender (or regular blender) until smooth. Taste and re-season if needed.The end. Super simple and way tasty!!!

I used the sauce to make Turkey enchiladas, below is that recipe.

Turkey enchiladas

1 Package of Jennie-O extra lean ground turkey

1 small can of diced green chilis

1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped

Chili powder

Cumin

garlic powder

S & P

Paprika

Mexican blend cheese

Olives if you like

Red sauce

Whole wheat tortillas

Cook the meat in a large skillet with the onions and spices. I don't usually measure my spices but I would go twice around the pan making sure to get enough so you have good flavor. Let the meat cook and cool slightly before trying to roll up the enchiladas.

Spoon some of the red sauce along the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Take one tortilla and lay it down in the pan, spoon in some meat, sprinkle of cheese and roll it up like a burrito. Continue to do this until you run out of room in the pan. You can squish them together to usually get one more in the pan if you'd like. Pour the red sauce on top and spinkly with more cheese. Bake in the oven at 375 for around 20-30 min until the cheese and sauce is bubbly.

I like to serve it with a corn and avocado salad :) 

Salsa pulled pork

So twice a week I go to the gym in the evening, so one of these days is a leftover dinner and the other is something made in the crock pot. The crock pot is your friend. If you don't have one, get one..now! If you work late, are in school late, or just like the idea of your food being done when you come home, the crock pot is the way to go! Like I said, I use mine at least once a week.A lot of people think that any meat cooked in the crock pot will have that "taste" that comes with it, well that's not true if you cook it right.

I made this to go into tacos, you could also use it for enchiladas, nachos, burritos, and one roast made enough for our dinner and a quart freezer bag for later. 

1 3-4 pound pork shoulder roast (boneless)

1 jar of chipotle salsa

1 can diced green chilis

1/2 yellow onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 lime, juiced

1 handful of chopped fresh oregano 

Slice the onions and put half the rings on the bottom and save the other half to put on top of the meat. Put just enough water in the crockpot to cover the bottom.

Brown the meat on all sides in a pan on the stove with a little of oil. Place into the crock pot.

Pour the lime juice and about a cup of the salsa on top of the meat ( you can add more if you'd like), then the chilis, oregano, and the rest of the onion slices. Put the lid on the crock pot and turn on high for 4-5 hours. If your going to be gone longer than that you can turn it on low for 8. Once the meat is able to shred turn the crockpot down to low, take the fat off the meat, then shred it up with a fork. Let it continue to cook on low for another 30 min. 

Oven roasted broccoli

 This is a super simple, way delicious, and nutritious side dish for any meal. My daughter gobbles this up like candy :). It crisps up on the outside but is soft at the same time. All you need is...

1-2 heads of broccoli

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup parm cheese (grated works best)

garlic powder

onion powder

salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 375

*if you have something else in the oven at say 350, you can just put the broccoli in at that temp, no need to be fussy about how high the oven is with this dish*

Trim the broccoli and put it in a bowl. Pour over the olive oil and toss the broccoli to coat. Then add in the spices and cheese. Add however much garlic and onion you like, if you want it to have a little kick add in some red pepper flakes. Mix it all up so the broccoli is evenly coated. Spread it out in a single layer onto a cookie sheet-to make clean up easy, line the cookie sheet with tinfoil. Bake for 20-30 min depending on how crispy you like it.

Spaghetti squash w/home made Alfredo sauce served with grilled chicken and roasted broccoli

Alfredo sauce

Alfredo sauce

If you serve this sauce over spaghetti squash its a great low carb healthy indulgence. Its rich, creamy, and of course easy to make. 

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup of unsalted butter

1 cup grated parm cheese

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

2-3 cloves chipped garlic

salt & pepper

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the cream and simmer on low for 5 min. Add in the garlic and cheese, stirring so they don't stick to the bottom. Stir in the parsley and serve!

Tilapia with Cauliflower veggie sauce

We were getting ready to leave town, which means I like to make sure I use up all the produce in the fridge so that it doesn't go to waste. This recipe was just complete randomness, yet it turned out really, really good. It came out with a sort of italin/thai mix in taste and I REALLY wish I had some coconut milk to put in it, but I was just using things I already had. I put this mixture on top of some Tilapia fillets served with yellow saffron rice. 

 

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1/2 head of cauliflower 

8-10 mini sweet peppers chopped and de-seeded

3-4 dried red chilis

1 tbls of red curry paste

1 cup vegetable broth

1/2 yellow onion chopped

3-4 tomatos chopped

1 can tomato sauce

4 tilapia fillets

1 package Mahatma saffron rice

Preheat the oven to 375

place the fish on a tinfoil lined baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, S & P. set aside.

Put the cauliflower, tomatoes, onions, and peppers into a pan with some olive oil and sautee until they get a little brown. Stir in the chicken broth, tomato sauce, and curry paste. If you really like spicy food and don't have kids to worry about, go ahead and cut open a couple of the red chilis and put them in the pan. If you'd rather be safe just throw them in whole. Once this mix comes up to a boil, turn it down to a simmer for at least 15 min. 

^I had gotten this all done during my sons nap time so all I had to do later was reheat and cook the fish^

Spoon the mixture onto the tilapia fillets and place into the oven. 

The fish should take no more than 10 min to cook ( it should flake when poked with a fork). You can serve it with the saffron rice or to be super healthy and not carby serve it ontop of some sauteed spinach. 

Quinoa and Turkey stuffed peppers

Bell peppers were on sale this week so I wanted to make something with them for dinner. I stuffed these one's with Quinoa, lean ground turkey, onions, bell peppers, corn, and as you can see ooey gooey mozzarella cheese :)

It was delicious.

Even more delicious a couple days later as leftovers.

3 bell peppers (halved lengthwise and de-seeded, and save the top part you cut off-use whats around the steam to put into the mix)

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup cooked quinoa (so make a 1/2 cup batch)

1/2 yellow onion-chopped

1 package lean turkey

1 cup shredded skim/low fat mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 375

Cook you Quinoa, once done put it into a large bowl.

Saute the onion, bell pepper, and frozen corn in a little bit of olive oil. Then put into the bow . 

Cook up your turkey and add some spices! I did S & P, some cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. You can really use anything you like.

Once the meet is cooked put it in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. 

Mix it all up together, add a little more S & P if needed. Place your bell pepper halves in a lightly oiled Pyrex dish. Scoop the filling into the peppers-really fill them! Don't worry about it looking pretty it'll taste good enough to please all the senses! Once all the peppers are filled top them with the mozzarella cheese and place into the oven. I cooked them for around 20-25 min. Depending on how toasted you want your cheese you could leave them in for shorter or longer.