So excited to make my first ever protein muffins!! I discovers tons of varieties in Instagram, so I decided to give it a go! I didn't have any whey, so I just used chocolate shakeology instead :). It was raining so it was a great day to bake with my little :).
Preheat oven to 350:




Started out with :
2 tbsp organic golden flaxmeal
3 tbsp blanched almond flour
1/4 cup oats
1tsp baking powder




In a other bowl I mashed 1 ripe banana and 1 tsp vanilla




Add 4 oz plain Greek yogurt, 3 tbsp local honey, and 4 egg whites




Mix thoroughly!




Meanwhile, down at the dry ingredient bowl, add 1 scoop chocolate shakeology and 2 tbsp PB2:




Stir, mix wet into dry.




Mix thoroughly. Or let your tot do it! Mine looooves to mix!




I just love his pudgy little hands!
Pour into greased muffin tins. I poured my mixture into a wet 2 cup measuring cup and just poured it in!




Bake at 350 for 12 minutes and voila! 24 mini chocolate peanut butter protein muffins! Yay!



Added frosting made of pb2, powdered sugar and splash of milk. Delish!




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I almost can't believe I'm writing a post on brussel sprouts! Almost. These were waaaayyyy too good not to post!
I have never been a huge fan of brussel sprouts. They are smelly, big, potent and taste weird. But these are amazing. I can't take the credit though. I was having dinner at my friends house and she made these life changing sprouts, gave me the recipe verbally and I just sort of went with it. I think the original recipe has red onions, but I wasn't feeling those, so I left them out and did my thing!

Start with 4 cups of brussel sprouts and cook 'em. You can steam them or boil them, just cook them until they are tender. I filled the pot half way with water and then boiled them for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let them cool. You could shock them in an ice bath if you are running low on time, or you could just let them cool. You are going to be re-cooking them anyway.

While the sprouts are cooking, cut up 1 red delicious apple. The red delicious add a really nice sweet flavor to these, so I decided to specify!

Set those aside and cut 4-6 slices of bacon:

Anyone have any tips on how to cut bacon?! It was a pain in the butt! All slimy and moving all over the place! Maybe partially freeze it first?
Anyway, saute your bacon pieces in a pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Once the bacon looks relatively cooked, add your finely sliced apple and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Now here comes the work. While that is cooking, cut up your brussel sprouts. I halve them lengthwise, turn them on their side, halve them again and then slice them up the sprout. I try to get 2-3 dices before I'm done. This is a bit laborious, but I timed it and it only took me about 12 minutes to do 4 cups.

Add the chopped up brussel sprouts to the pan with them bacon and apple. Cook for about 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Hit it with a bit of sea salt at the end and voila, the best brussel sprouts you've ever had. Sweet, crunchy, salty. Awesome.

 They barely even look like brussel sprouts!

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I would definitely say I am on a breakfast preparation kick! I love breakfast burritos and it seemed like a good breakfast I could prep for the week. I also decided to try the more picture detailed blog post in for size so here we go.

Spray a pan with some olive oil spray. Start with a generous handful of spinach:
Don't worry, it wilts down!

I like to add a little water and minced onions so the spinach doesn't stick to the pan:

Grab 4 eggs

Whip 4 egg whites in a bowl and pour them into your wilted spinach:

Turn the heat to medium an stir until your egg whites are set. Add some salsa!

Set this aside for a bit and grab some low carb tortillas:

Lay a tortilla on top of a paper towel, spoon egg mixture onto tortilla and fold:

Wrap in parchment paper and put in the fridge!

Next time I make these I'm going to chop some onions and peppers! And put cheese on my tortilla...

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I love play dates. Great for kids, great for moms and great for idea and recipe sharing! Yay! I found these little gems to give a healthy remake from a play date in Savannah. The original recipe is from the once a month mommy website. Tons of neat ideas on how to prep food for an entire month! My recipe isn't too vastly different, I used low carb tortillas in place of regular, coconut oil in place of butter and Greek yogurt in place of regular. Just trying to health it up a bit :).
First, grab your tortillas and get your station ready: 2 plates side by side, one with 1/4 cup melted coconut oil and the other with 1/2 cup cinnamon and sugar mixed. After your plates have your yogurt and berries ready, then your baking sheet with tin foil.



1.+2. Take one tortilla and dip one side in the coconut oil and then in the cinnamon sugar.
3. Place one spoonful and yogurt and sprinkle of berries on each tortilla
4. Place on baking sheet
5. Fold both ends in and then roll like a burrito.


Flash freeze for 2 hours or more. Half way through the freezing process, take them out and cut them in half. This way the filling won't ooze out and you won't be cutting into a rock! They just look better this way. Like little cinnamon berry pies :)


Let these thaw for about 10-15 minutes before eating so they won't be super hard :).
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So there I was, watching Good Morning America with my mom when this chef named Rocco DiSpirio was featured, explaining some of his favorite Italian dishes, remade in a much healthier way. Needless to say , my curiosity was piqued instantly.

This version of healthy wasn't using "light" or "reduced fat" processed foods, which was even better because it was actually clean and healthy! He used natural ingredients like Egg Plant and puffed cereal as fillers for the meatballs! Not really a stretch if you think about what goes in to meatballs anyway (bread crumbs, eggs, cheese, meat etc.). I'm not saying a great meatball isn't an Art, but sometimes they become a "lets hide a bunch of leftovers in some meat and call it a dish." Or maybe that's just me...

I set out at once to try these and adapt them for myself, since my family loves meatballs so much anyway. I do a lot of cooking with Eggplant and while it may seem weird, it makes a lot of sense in a meatball, so I started with that and this is what I settled on.

This may seem a bit labor intensive at first, but if you read through it, you can tackle it in steps and it makes a TON of meatballs so you can make them for a big meal or re-purpose them in sandwiches, pastas etc. I stick my eggplant in right away, then tackle the rest and it doesn't seem overwheling.

Ingredients:
Olive oil spray (or 1 TBSP olive oil)
2 TBSP chopped garlic
1 onion, chopped
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup reduced sodium chicken stock
1-6oz can organinc no sodium tomatoe paste
1 15-oz cans organic no sodium diced tomatoes with italian seasoning
-(for saucier meatballs, or if cooking this in the crock pot, you could use 2 cans)
1 small egg plant
6 ounces lean ground turkey breast
4 ounces 96% lean ground beef (I used Laura's lean)
2 ounces extra-lean ground pork
1 egg white
1/4 cup chopped (fresh) parsely*
Garlic salt (to taste)
1/8-1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 cups puffed wheat cereal**

Poke holes in eggplant with a fork and bake at 400*F until eggplant is tender (about 45 minutes). Cut in half, scoop out flesh, add 1 tsp garlic salt and allow to cool in a strainer to let the excess water drip off.

Spray a deep skillet with olive oil spray. Add half the garlic, onion and red pepper flakes. Saute over the stove until softened (about 5 minutes). De-glaze skillet with 1/2 cup chicken stock. Blend diced tomatoes and tomatoe paste and add to skillet.

In a bowl, combine all meats. In a blender, pulse the egg white, parsely, remaining onion, garlic and chicken stock until combined, but not pureed. Add this blended mixture to your meat bowl. Add parmesan cheese and garlic salt to taste (about 1 tsp). Blend, or crumble puffed wheat cereal with your hands and add this to meat mixture. Add eggplant and mix gently. Using a table spoon and your hands, form into meatballs and add to the skillet with the tomatoe sauce mixture. Bring mixture to a soft boil, cover and reduce to simmer. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, but the longer the better because the flavors will be allowed to marinate.

You could also cook these in the crock pot, but I would add another can of diced or crushed tomatoes.

*I have also used the dried Italian Blend herbs and they tasted fine
**I have also toasted 3 slices of light wheat bread, allowed it to cool and crumbled that in too

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I may be about to write blasphemy, but don't the ingredients in Deviled Eggs gross you out a bit?! I mean 6 egg yolks and 1/4 cup mayonnaise for 12-half eggs seems a tiny bit excessive to me. And if you are Paula Deen, you also add bacon on top... but I digress. I decided to try and find a healthier alternative to deviled egg filling using Greek Yogurt and Dijon Mustard, and I thought they came out pretty tasty.

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
3 tbsp greek yogurt
1 tbsp dijon mustard
splash milk (to smooth and thin out the consistency of the filling).
dash celery salt
paprika to taste

Boil 6 eggs and cut in half. Discard half of the yolks and mix the remaining yolks with the greek yogurt, dijon mustard and celery salt. Add milk until desired consistency is reached. Spoon, pipe or squeeze into egg white bowls. Dust with paprika and serve!

I thought they tasted pretty good! I liked the tang that the Greek Yogurt gave them. Sorry for the worst photo ever, but we were moving and I didn't have my phone or camera handy, but liked the post... hopefully this won't happen again.



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I adapted this recipe from an October 2011 issue of Southern Living. The Original just sounded SO good and intriguing. I mean, what makes a bread spoonable? What kind of texture is that for a bread? Is it spongy or bread pudding-ey? Was it sweet or savory?! The Southern  Living picture made it look like a cornbread. Anyhow, I had to try it, and then do a little adaptation on it, of course.

So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 Cups whole milk
2 tbsp tarragon vinegar
4 large eggs, separated
1 medium size butternut squash (or 2 12-oz frozen, thawed packages)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup white or yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp chopped rosemary
1/2 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350. At the same time, mix milk and vinegar and let sit for 15 minutes. Once milk mixture is ready, heat over medium heat for 4-6 minutes (until bubbly, but not boiling)
2. Lightly beat egg yolks in a large bowl; stir in squash and cheese. Combine cornmeal and next 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Stir cornmeal mixture into squash mixture. Pour warm milk over squash mixture and whisk until smooth. Let stand until luke warm (about 15 min).
3. Brush a 2.5-3 qt baking dish or 12 in cast iron skillet with butter or spray. Stir remaining melted butter into squash/cornmeal mixture.
4. Beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold into squash mixture. Pour into baking dish.
5. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

This is best when eaten immediately. The texture is real light and springy and it really is a bread you can eat with a spoon! Wild!

This is definitely more on the savory side, than sweet. But there is a faint sweetness to it, because of the butternut squash. It's really neat.

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