recipes

Grilled Eggplant Sandwich Recipe

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Hi Everyone!
 
Last night Jesse and I had a delicious dinner! We had grilled eggplant sandwiches. It was delicious, healthy, and easy to make (my favorite combination!) 
 
I am sharing the recipe below. This is also delicious on it’s own, if you’re not a sandwich fan. If you don’t have a grill you can make this on a george foreman grill, or even bake it in the oven. 
 
Enjoy!
Melissa
 
Ingredients:
1 Eggplant
Hummus 2-4 tablespoons
bread of your choice
fresh baby spinach leaves
Grapes (optional side item)
 
Mix Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1-2 mashed garlic cloves
4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
salt
 
 
Step 1: Slice eggplant into approximately 1/2 inch rounds, and peel off strips of the skin (to make it easier to eat). Place sliced eggplant onto paper towels and lightly salt. Let sit about 15 minutes to get out excess water. Pat and dry both sides of the eggplant before moving onto the next step. 
 
Note: I have skipped this step before, but this step is supposed to release some bitterness in the eggplant. I didn’t really notice much of a difference and thought it was good either way. 
Step 2: Combine all of the other ingredients in a bowl and mix together. 
Step 3: Dip the eggplant slices into the mixture, being sure to lightly coat both sides. 
Step 4: I placed all of the coated slices into a container until we were ready to grill, and poured the extra mixture over the top. We let it sit for about an hour, but this step isn’t necessary. 
 
Step 5: While Jesse started the grill I got the bread ready. I used a whole wheat sandwich thin, Jesse had his on a thicker whole wheat bun. I lightly spread both sides of the bun with traditional hummus, added some fresh spinach leaves, and put red grapes on the side. 
Step 6: Place the eggplant on the grill over medium heat. Cook about 3 minutes, flip, and cook about 2 more minutes. We put down tinfoil to keep it moist, and make clean up easy. 
Step 7: Place cooked eggplant on a dish. 
Step 8: Pour any remaining mixture over top (you can skip this step if you like it dry). 
Step 9: Put eggplant on your sandwich and enjoy! The one in the picture above is mine. The one below is Jesse’s. 
 
We both thought it was delicious! I hope you do to!

Healthy Lunch in under 7 Minutes

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Hi Everyone,

I wanted to take a minute to share my lunch with you. Last night I had this as an after dinner snack because I was still hungry. This is a super healthy, quick option. When I bring it to work with me for lunch I usually toss it with some whole wheat pasta, or add some grilled chicken strips or salmon. I am home today so I can eat smaller meals throughout the day. This only has 140 calories. It’s delicious, and it keeps me full. 

Plus, look at all those delicious and healthy colors on that plate! 

Enjoy!
Melissa

Ingredients: 
1 Bag Valley Fresh Stemers Market Blend
1-2 cups fresh spinach
5 sun dried tomato halves (I used Bella St Luci)

Stick the steamer bag in the microwave for about 6 minutes. 
While that is heating up put your spinach and sun dried tomatoes on a plate. 
I always drain the excess olive oil out of the veggies before emptying the bag over the spinach. You can heat the plate in the microwave for an extra 20-30 seconds if you want your spinach and sun dried tomatoes warm. If you are using chicken, fish or pasta mix it all together and heat it up. 

It’s delicious, fast and easy! 



Baked Eggplant Recipe: 116 calories per serving

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Hi Everyone, 

Tomorrow I am planning on sharing a video/pictures following all of my meals for the day. In the mean time, here is a recipe that I love. Baked Eggplant. Yummmm! Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables. Before I started graduate school I had a vegetable garden, so I had fresh a delicious eggplant as often as I wanted it. I miss those days! Now I have to buy it at the local farmers market, or the grocery store. 

If you haven’t tried eggplant you are missing out. Eggplant helps promote weight loss, helps prevent cancer, and is loaded with antioxidants that keep your brain, heart, and skin healthy. It’s very high in fiber and only has 35 calories for one cup. Don’t forget, if you fry it, and cover it in cheese you are losing a lot of the health benefits. This baked eggplant recipe is a healthier version of eggplant parmigiana. 

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as Jesse and I did!

Melissa

Ingredients:

1 Eggplant
1 Egg (slightly beaten)
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup tomato sauce (I used tomato basil sauce)
1-2 cups fresh baby spinach

Pre-heat over to 400 degrees F.

1. Wash your eggplant. 
2. Slice eggplant cross wise (aprox 1/2 inch slices). You can peel the eggplant if you desire. 
3. Combine egg and water. 
4. Dip eggplant slices into the egg mixture, the lightly coat both sides with flour. 
5. Place eggplant slices in a layer in a baking dish. 
6. Lightly cover with sauce. 
7. Place a layer of spinach over the sauce.
8. Lightly cover spinach with more sauce. 
9. Bake, uncovered for 10-12 minutes, or until heated through. 

Baking time is based on having one layer of eggplant in the bottom of your dish. If you decide to stack layers increase baking time as needed, and layer slices of eggplant on top of each other. 

Enjoy!

This entire recipe only has 464 calories. It makes 4 servings, at 116 calories per serving. Each serving has 20 g carbs, 3 g fat, 6 g protein, 7 g fiber. 

Organic Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

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Hi Everyone,

This delicious recipe come from Carla. She has been on a serious Bender, and I mean that in the best way possible. 🙂 She has been taking over her life, making healthy choices, and kicking butt with my workouts! She was nice enough to share this recipe, and I am sharing it with you guys! This is her note below. Doesn’t the picture just make your mouth water? Guess what I am making tonight? 

Also, tonight’s workout is uploading now. It hit every area of my core, and had plenty of fat burning. Be sure to check back for that! Also, please vote for my blog in Fitness Magazine’s best blog contest. You have to register on the site, but it’s totally free. I got entered late so I am way behind in the voting! Vote for my Blog! Click Here!

Note From Carla:

JUST THOUGHT OF SHARING MY ORGANIC HEALTHY TREAT INVENTION !!!!!! 
I made this with 0% fat, 0% sugar yogurt, organic blueberries, chocolate protein powder and 3 walnuts. Put it all in your magic bullet until it gets mixed and creamy. Then pour the mix in a little bowl and put in the freezer. Once it’s frozen, scoop it out of the bowl and serve with organic coconut shavings and a walnut on top !!! WAH LAH !! … LOOK !! … it tastes so good and it’s a tiny portion! but so full of FLAVONOIDS ! … your teeth will turn purple from all the flavonoids so rinse after !!

Carla used slightly more than half a cup of organic, plain 0% fat/sugar free yogurt. She ground 3 walnuts into little chunks, and added half a scoop of chocolate protein powder (she used Promasil, but you can use your favorite brand!) She added a full cup of organic blueberries, but noted that any type of berries can be used. Add a tablespoon of plain almond milk. Blend, pour it into a bowl and freeze. Top with coconut shavings! You can change quantities for the texture that you want as long as the end result is a nice slightly thick texture. 



Whole Wheat Nutella Brownie Bites

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I had a sweet tooth tonight, and I got the idea for these brownie bites from a post I saw on pinterest. The original recipe came from Laura’s Sweet Spot. Of course I changed it up to make it a little bit healthier. I substituted whole wheat flour for white flour, and was beyond thrilled with the results! Also, for half of them I crushed up dark chocolate M&M’s and sprinkled them on the top. I am sending those to work with Jesse tomorrow. I thought they were sweet enough without the extra chocolate. 

The recipe is super easy, and took only 15-17 minutes from start to finish. It makes 12 brownie bites. 

Ingredients: 
1 Cup Nutella
2 Eggs
1/2 cup and 2 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour

Pre-heat Oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake liners in a muffin pan. I used re-usable cupcake liners. 

Step 1:
Mix the eggs and nutella. (I measured out the nutella and then microwaved it for about 15-20 seconds before mixing to make it easier). 

Step 2:
Mix the flour until it is just mixed in, and spread throughout the nutella/egg mixture. 

Step 3:
Scoop the mixture evenly  into the liners. They were slightly more than half way full. 

Step 4: 
Bake for 12-15 minutes. If you want a gooey center bake for 12 minutes, if you want them more cooked throughout go for 15 minutes. 

The results are delicious, and healthier than a traditional brownie. They are also an appropriate size for an indulgent treat. Remember, being healthy is not about deprivation. It’s about learning how to find a balance. You should still be able to enjoy food, but it shouldn’t leave you feeling sick or guilty. 


Tuna Stuffed Egg Whites: 21 Grams of Protein

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Looking for a super easy, low calorie way to feel full and get plenty of protein? Try this!

All you need to do is hard boil a couple of eggs, get rid of the yolk, and stuff it with tuna. I used lemon pepper tuna because I love the flavor, and you don’t have to add anything else to it. 
To boil your egg put eggs in a pan, and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil, and then lower the flame. Allow eggs to boil for about 1 minute. Cover and remove from heat. Leave covered for 10-13 minutes.  Drain the eggs, and cover with cool water. You can refrigerate the eggs or eat them as soon as they are cool. 
Quick, easy. 94 calories for two eggs stuffed with tuna. 21 grams of protein. 

Wake Up With a Delicious Fruit Smoothie!

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I wanted to make an omlette for breakfast this morning, but found that I was out of eggs. I was not in the mood for cereal, but I had plenty of fresh fruit in the house so I decided to make a smoothie. Healthy, delicious, and nutritious! I often mix up my smoothie ingredients, but here was my recipe for this morning.
Smoothie Ingredients (makes 2 smoothies):
1 Banana
8 Strawberries (medium)
8 Blueberries
1/2 cup greek yogurt
3/4 cup vanilla soy milk
Optional: 1 Tablespoon of honey
Garnish:
3 Blueberries
1 Strawberry
sprinkle of Sliced Almonds
1. Slice the banana and strawberries into the blender.
2. Add all of the other ingredients.
3. Blend until it reaches the desired consistency.
4. Put into a cup
5. Put the Garnish fruit on a toothpick, and slice the bottom of the strawberry so it can rest on the lip of the cup.
6. Enjoy!

How to Get Enough Protein

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Hi Everyone,
Someone posted a very interesting question on my facebook page. What are the best ways to get enough protein as a vegetarian? When many people are trying to put on muscle they eat a lot of chicken breast, and tuna. So what if that’s not an option in your diet?
The good news is you still have a lot of other high protein choices!
According to the CDC women need at least 46 grams of protein and men need at least 56 grams. Generally when you are trying to put on muscle you want about 1 gram of protein per pound of your goal bodyweight. The only known danger of a high protein diet is for those with kidney disease. New evidence is showing that diets that are high in protein may be useful in treating obesity and preventing osteoporosis (Carter, et al. 2006).
So what are some good protein sources? Here are some good options for vegetarians, vegans, and carnivores. This list is not comprehensive, but is meant to give you some ideas.
Vegan:
Tofu: ½ cup has 20 g (Faux Beef Stew Recipe)
Soy Milk: 6-10 g
Beans: 7-10 g per ½ cup
Soy Beans: 14 g per ½ cup
Split Peas: 8 g per ½ cup
Peanut Butter: 8 g per 2 tablespoons (Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake Recipe)
Almonds (1/4 cup): 8 g
Peanuts (1/4 cup): 9 g
Cashews( ¼ c): 5 g
Pecans (1/4 c): 2.5 g
Sunflower seeds (1/4 c): 6 g
Pumpkin seeds: 8g
Flax Seed: 8g
Oatmeal (1 c): 6 g
Bagel: 9 g
Broccoli: (1 c) 4 g
Brown Rice: 5 g
Soy Yogurt: 6 g
Veggie Burger: 13 g
Spaghetti: 8 g
Spinach (1 c): 5 g
Lacto-ovo vegetarians: (no meat, fish or poultry, but eggs and dairy are allowed).
Egg (large): 6 grams of protein per egg (Egg “Muffins”)
Milk: 1 cup, 8 g
Cottage Cheese: 15 g
Yogurt: 8-12 g
Cheese: 6-10 g
Carnivores:
Tuna: (6 oz can) 40 g
Most Fish Fillet: (3 ½ ounces) 22 g
Hamburger: (4 oz) 28 g
Steak: 6 oz 42 g
Pork Chop: 22g
Ham (3 oz): 19 g

There are many sources of protein out there. Hopefully this has given you some ideas. This is another great resource: http://www.highproteinfoods.net/
Enjoy, and make sure you get enough protein today!
Melissa

Some Resources:

Carter, J., Vasey, F. Valeriano, J. (2006). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16718399?dopt=Abstract

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/highproteinfood.htm

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting: 128 calories

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Hi Everyone!

I found another great recipe, and tweaked it a bit. It is both healthy and delicious. Try it out! It was easy, and relatively fast to make! I modified the recipe from the one I found on the blog Sunday Baker. She did a pumpkin bread with a more traditional cream cheese filling. I created muffins with a healthy cream cheese frosting. 
Melissa
Ingredients for the muffins: Makes 12 Muffins. Pre-heat oven to 350. 
1-1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
1 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. Stevia Cup For Cup sweetener or 24 packets of Stevia in the Raw
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. ground cinnamon


Ingredients for healthy cream cheese frosting:
2 heaping tablespoons of 0% Greek yogurt 
2 heaping tablespoons of whipped cream cheese
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 packet of stevia in the raw
Step 1:
Start your batter. Stir all of the dry batter ingredients (both flours, stevia, baking soda, sugar, cinammon) in one bowl, and mix all of the wet ingredients in a second bowl (pumpkin, apple sauce, egg and egg whites). The wet ingredients can be mixed with an electric mixer on low to medium speed. 
Step 2: 
Slowly mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture. 
Step 3: 
Scoop the mixture into muffin pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. 
Step 4:
The muffins are delicious plain so you can eat them now or continue and make the frosting!
Step 5: Mix the Greek yogurt, whipped cream cheese, vanilla extract, and stevia in a bowl. 
Step 6: 
Spread the mixture on your muffins. Top with a drizzle of honey if you want to. (There is no honey on the one pictured). Try it out on one muffin to be sure you like it!
Step 7:
Enjoy!

Healthy Chicken, Vegetable Rice Soup: Under 200 Calories QUICK!

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Ingredients:
2 14 oz cans of reduced sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups of water
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots (I used baby carrots)
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 cup quick cook or instant brown rice
3/4 cup loose-pack frozen cut green beans
2 cups of chopped cooked chicken (or turkey if you prefer)
1 14-oz can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos un-drained (if you don’t like it spicy just use plain diced tomatoes!)
1/4 cup fresh sliced zucchini
2 cups of fresh spinach
(you can add more veggies if you want!)
Step One: In a large saucepan combine broth, water, rosemary, pepper, carrots, onion, and zucchini. Bring to a Boil.
Step Two: Stir in uncooked rice, and green beans. Bring to a boil; reduce heat.
Step Three: Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Step Four: Stir in chicken, spinach, and un-drained tomatoes. Heat through.

Step Five: Enjoy!

Egg “Muffin” Recipe: Delicious, Healthy, and high in Protein!

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These Egg Muffins are delicious, and super easy to make! Someone shared this recipe with me today, and I didn’t have all of the ingredients to make it, so I improvised with a few ingredients and the results were AMAZING! Also, these can be made in bulk and frozen! Pop them in the microwave for a minute, and you have a healthy snack or meal on the go!
Also, I added the veggies that I had on hand, but feel free to experiment! I made a dozen egg muffins.

Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Ingredients:
I used 7 eggs, but for a larger batch use a dozen
Original Almond Milk (about 1/4 cup)
Cheese: I used a little less than 1/4 cup of tomato basil feta
Sliced fit and active Turkey Breast (4-5 slices, hand shredded)
About 4 cups of fresh baby spinach
Zucchini: fresh grated, I didn’t measure, but aprox. 1/4 cup
a dash of fresh ground pepper, and fresh ground sea salt
Mix all of your ingredients together in a large bowl.
Spray a muffin pan lightly with Pam Olive Oil cooking spray.
Scoop the ingredients into the muffin pan until the cups are about 3/4 full.
Bake in the oven 15-20 minutes, until a fork goes in and comes out clean, or until the tops are lightly browned.
Take them out and enjoy! Freeze the extras so you have healthy options to go!
In the future I am going to add mushrooms and broccoli, and serve it with a couple of fresh tomato slices. I may also try it out with veggie “cheese” slices instead of the feta, although the feta added an amazing flavor.
Easy, delicious, and healthy! What a great combo!

Healthy High Protein Snack: Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt

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When you’re working out and building muscle it’s really important to get enough protein. Generally you want to eat 1 gram of protein for every pound of your goal body weight.
Also, protein keeps you full and satisfied throughout the day, which decreases cravings for lower quality foods.
This is one of my favorite high protein, healthy snacks. It takes less than a minute to prepare.
Take 1 cup of 0% plain Greek yogurt, mix it with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter (you can use 2 tablespoons if you want more PB), add 1 packet of Stevia in the Raw or sweeten to taste. Mix it all together and you have a delicious high protein snack!
If I am craving sweets I add a teaspoon of Hershey’s special dark chocolate chips, and then it’s like having a healthy dessert. It’s so filling that it kills my cravings for anything else!
Enjoy!

Calories: 225
Carbs: 13 g.
Fat: 8 g.
Protein: 27 g.
Fiber: 1 g.
Calcium: 25 g.

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes? Can they actually be good?

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To my everlasting joy the answer is YES! These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes are delicious, packed with protein and veggies, are easy to make, and they are actually healthy!

So if you find yourself craving sweets after a workout you can choose this healthier option and feed your muscles the protein they need to heal!

I first stumbled across this recipe through Shape Magazine. I noticed that they took the recipe from: http://youngmarriedchic.com/ which is a very cool blog.

If you’re ready to try it I posted the recipe below:

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
1/3 c. whole-wheat flour
1/3 c. white flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. pumpkin
1 c. zucchini, grated
1 egg
2/3 c. almond milk (or skim milk)
 

For the frosting:
1/2 c. natural peanut butter
1/4 c. Greek yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. stevia or other sweetener
Honey for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place liners in a cupcake pan. Mix together the whole-wheat flour, white flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In a separate bowl mix the vanilla, brown sugar, pumpkin, zucchini, egg and almond milk.

Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined (the batter will be thick).

Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until cupcakes are springy when touched. Let cool completely before icing.
The recipe says that it makes 8 cupcakes, but as you can see I made 12 smaller cupcakes, and 10 mini-cupcake bites. I just used a muffin pan, and mini-muffin pan to decrease the portion sizes.

These are all the ingredients you need for the frosting. I didn’t have quite enough natural peanut butter, so I mixed what I had with some Jif.

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting them.

For the frosting:

Stir together the peanut butter, Greek yogurt, vanilla and Stevia. If you prefer a sweeter icing, add more sweetener to taste. (1 packet was enough for me). Ice the cupcakes right before serving. Drizzle honey over top. Due to the lack of fat in the recipe and the Greek yogurt in the icing, if not eaten immediately, the cupcakes should be kept in the refrigerator.

I am not the best at icing cupcakes, but they tasted amazing!
Enjoy! If you have any healthy recipes to share feel free to comment below or message me.

Healthy Feta Stuffed Chicken Dinner: 231 Calories or less

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Feta Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled basil and tomato feta cheese
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) fat-free cream cheese (I used whipped cream cheese)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
a dash of salt
1 teaspoon olive oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
1 10-ounce package of prewashed spinach (8 cups)-I actually use more than this because I really like spinach
2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds (optional)
Lemon slices to garnish
Note: for the pictures I was cooking a dinner party for 12 people. The ingredients above will make enough to serve 4. Also, I was rushing when I took the “finished” picture because everyone was here. It actually looks much nicer than the picture portrays it!
Total Time: 30 minutes

First I lay all of the chicken out on a tray and cut it in half. Then I cut slits in the thickest part of the chicken. This is where we will be putting the cheese.

Mix the feta cheese and cream cheese in a bowl

Stuff the pockets with the cheese mixture.

Heat oil and in a large pan on medium high heat. Non-stick pans work best.

Sprinkle the chicken with a little bit of salt and pepper.
Cook on medium-high heat about 12-15 minutes or until tender, and no longer pink. Reduce heat if the chicken starts to cook to quickly. I cover the pan with aluminum foil to keep the chicken moist as it cooks.
Remove chicken from the skillet, set aside and cover so it stays warm.
People started arriving so I didn’t get pictures of the rest, but cooking the spinach is as follows:
Add the broth to the pan you cooked the chicken in (be careful!) and bring it to a boil. Fill the pan with spinach, cover about 2-3 minutes until the spinach wilts. Remove the spinach from the pan (keeping the liquid in the pan) and set aside. Continue this process until you have cooked the desired amount of spinach. If you want to add the sunflower seeds add them, and reheat all of the spinach in the skillet.
To serve divide the spinach, and top with the stuffed chicken breast. I garnish with a lemon for both the flavor and the color. I got the last little bit of spinach you see pictured below. The other plates got a bit more. I made some steamed broccoli to have in addition to the spinach.
It was delicious, satisfying, filling, and no one would have suspected I was feeding them “diet” food.

With the nuts this meal has about 231 calories.
This recipe was slightly modified from the Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter’s Cookbook (3rd edition, 2003)

Healthy Holiday Entertaining

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Hi Everyone!
Holiday entertaining, and spending time with family and friends is amazing! If you try to stick to healthy dietary choices, it can also be challenging. I always try to offer my guests a selection that includes healthy choices. Here are a few of my go to holiday appetizers/party food choices. I’m always interesting in learning more, so if you have suggestions be sure to post them in a comment!
This veggie/hummus platter is super easy to move, but allows your guests (and you!) to have a healthy guilt-free option. I also set out some reduced fat wheat thins as an alternate option to go with the hummus.

This snack was surprisingly popular! Cucumber sandwiches on whole wheat bread with a bit of hummus on either side of the bread. Just cut off the crust, cut the bread into squares, and you are ready to go. Obviously I am a big fan of hummus. If that’s not your thing veggie slices (they are like cheese, but made out of vegetables) or some lowfat cheese and mustard can be great alternatives.

Brie cheese and fruit platter. Baked brie, with some sliced almonds, granny smith apples, golden delicious apples, red and black grapes, raspberries and blackberries were a delicious and popular snack. This is also good with a few reduced fat wheat thins.

Some of our healthy options laid out for people to enjoy. We also had a little dish of peanut M&M’s. It’s crazy how artificial they look when you see them next to some whole food options.
Be sure to enjoy your holidays! If you don’t think the party you are going to will have anything healthy you can offer to bring something for everyone to enjoy!

Healthy and Delicious Multi-grain Wrap

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This is one of my favorite healthy wraps. It’s delicious, and nutritious. Eating healthy is not the same thing as eating bland foods. So take some time to explore and enjoy!
My wrap has red grapes and avocado.

Jesse doesn’t like grapes or avocado, so he gets a little bit of feta in his.

Step 1: Take a multi-grain wrap and spread a thin layer of hummus on it. Add spinach. I used fresh baby spinach.

Today I used sliced chicken breast. Sometimes I use deli turkey.

Add the chicken to your wrap. At this point Jesse’s was done. I just added a little bit of crumbled feta cheese.

For mine I sliced 4 grapes.

And a little bit of fresh avocado.

Add it to your wrap. Roll it up and you have the finished product above! This was really filling so I had half for lunch yesterday and the other half for breakfast this morning.
Enjoy! Remember being fit and healthy shouldn’t make you feel deprived. Make healthy choices and you will start to feel a difference.

Healthy Tartlet Recipe: Dessert, Appetizer, Delicious!

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Tartlets Make a Delicious and Healthy Snack!

Thanksgiving can be a hard time to make healthy choices! The celebration can cause anyone to err on the side of excess. This is one example of a healthy appetizer or dessert option. Instead of having a slice of every type of pie, why not make Tartlets so you can try several things without going overboard?

To make the shell you cut a refridgerated pie crust in 3-inch rounds. Loosely place the circles into mini muffin cups. Back at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Allow shells to cool before filling. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

You can fill these with anything that you want. In the picture above I filled some with Hummus and raw broccoli. Other appetizer options include:
1. A cherry tomato, fresh spinach, and and a light olive oil dressing.
2. Guacamole with fresh diced tomatos.
3. Shrimp with a dab of cocktail sauce.
4. Sliced red grapes, and diced baked chicken. (feta cheese also makes a nice addition).
5. Mix and match some of your favorite diced/sliced veggies.
6. Hummus and fresh veggies of your choice.

Dessert (or appetizer) options:
1. Plain or lowfat vanilla yogurt topped with fruit. In the picture above I used fresh sliced raspberries, diced green apples baked with cinnamon, and sliced red grapes. My husband prefered the vanilla yogurt, I liked the tartness the plain yogurt adds. I added sliced almonds to some of the tartlets as well.
2. Chocolate pudding topped with the fruit of your choice. (Each cup gets less than a teaspoon of chocolate pudding).
3. Lowfat cinnamon honey nut cream cheese with fresh sliced red grapes.
4. Sliced pear and pear preserves.
5. Mixed fresh fruit.
6. Take whatever large pie fillings you normally use, and offer bite sized versions of your holiday favorites. This can allow people to sample without going overboard.

I got this idea from Better Homes and Garden’s magazine, and modified it with some of my own ideas. If you have any recipes to share be sure to leave a comment below!

Melissa

Healthy Peanut Butter Milkshake Recipe

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If you’re anything like me you love chocolate and peanut butter together. Instead of letting this be a downfall in your healthy eating habits maybe it’s time to embrace this delcious combo and make it as healthy as possible!
The recipe below is healthy, delicious, and delivers plenty of protein (which keeps you full, and helps you build the muscle you need to rev up your metabolism!) Jesse and I tried to today, and we were pleasantly suprised. It was filling and tasty!

Healthy PB cup milkshake
Ingrediants:

1 cup – vanilla unsweetened almond OR soy milk OR regular 1% cow’s milk (I used vanilla soy milk. I was tempted to use the chocolate, but I wanted to try it as the recipe called first)


1 scoop – chocolate rice protein OR chocolate whey protein powder

1 tbsp – peanut butter OR almond butter

(optional) 1 packet of stevia, honey OR maple syrup to taste for sweetness (I didn’t use this, it was sweet enough for me without it)

5 ice cubes

Directions:
Place all items in a blender and blend until smooth.
NOTE: For fruity sweetness you can always add banana to the smoothie and remove the maple syrup, honey or stevia.
Serve in a tall glass and sip away at the guilt free peanut butter cup yumminess!

Let me know what you think, or if you have any recipes to share.