Omelette in Reverse

Some people think that eating clean and healthy limits your options. Well, I'm here to say: THAT'S NOT TRUE! I'm constantly finding new and exciting ways to incorporate nutrition-packed foods into my diet.
So today, I decided to try a reversed omelette!

What you'll need:
- 1 red bell pepper, cut in half, seeds and ribs removed
- 1 egg
- 6 tbsp eggwhites

- omelette fillings! (I only used turkey bacon and spinach)

- spices, to taste (I used cayenne, red pepper, oregano, thyme, and parseley) 

What you gotta do:
1. Pre-heat the oven (or toaster oven) to 400
2. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except the pepper
3. Once mixed, divide the mixed goods and pour them into the pepper halves.

4. Pop 'em in the oven for about 15 minutes, and cook until the eggs are cooked!

Note: You can add whatever you want into this egg-cellent meal! Add in peppers, onions, ham, and whatever else you like in your omelettes! You could even top it with cheese!

Aside from it's nutrition, the best part about this meal is that you can have it anytime! As a hearty breakfast, a light lunch, or a side-dish at dinner!

Nutrition (with the ingredients listed above):

234 calories

7g of fat (egg + turkey)

11g carbs (veggies)

31g protein! (turkey + egg/egg whites)!

*if you add additional ingredients, don't forget to account for them!

There you have it! Nutritious and delicious!

Chicken Fried... Quinoa?

I've been craving Chinese food lately. Thinking about the taste of teriyaki and soy sauce was torturous. So, I did something about it. No, I didn't head over to an authentic restaurant and order a huge plate of fried noodles or sauce-drenched chicken. Instead, I made my very own Chicken Fried Quinoa - a spin-off of the ever so popular Chicken Fried Rice.
Why quinoa instead of rice? I personally prefer quinoa, and am constantly looking for new and creative ways to prepare it. And so I did.





Ingredients (for 2 servings):
-1/2 cup dried quinoa
- 8 oz chicken breast
- veggies of your choice (I used mushrooms, onions, carrots, and red peppers)
- 2 eggs
- soy sauce
- honey
- ground ginger
- ketchup/BBQ sauce (optional)




What to do:
1. Put about a cup of water and quinoa in a skillet. Bring to a boil, and cook until the quinoa has absorbed all the water and begins to "fluff" up.
2. While the quinoa is boiling, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
3. Spray a cooking pan with cooking spray, and pan-fry the chicken on medium-high until it's cooked through all the way.
4. Meanwhile, dice your veggies into small pieces.
5. Add your veggies to the chicken, and cook until tender.
6. Once the veggies are cooked, crack the eggs into them, and scramble it all together.
7. Mix the soy sauce, honey, and ginger together (add the ketchup and BBQ sauce if you've chosen to use them).
8. Add the saucey mixture to the cooked quinoa.
9. Mix the veggies/chicken and quinoa all together!


VOILA! You've made Chicken Fried Quinoa! It tastes amazing, and cuts all calories the from the extra oil and fried ingredients!

Nutrition per serving:
423 Calories
49g of carbs (veggies, honey, quinoa)
10g of fat
37g of protein

Healthy Homemade Granola

I absolutely love LOVE granola. I could eat it all day, err'day... either on its own or drenched in some vanilla almond milk (I guess regular milk is okay, too..). BUT. I've been faced with a granola roadbump - SUGAR. It seems like all store-bought granola brands absolutely LOAD UP on the stuff. Well, that's not okay with me! So I've decided to boycott these sugar fiends and create my own granola! Muahahaha!

So here are my secrets.

Ingredients:

- 6 cups oats

- 2 cups nuts*

- 1 cup seeds*

- 1/3 cup flax seeds

- 2 cups applesauce

- 1/3 cup honey

- 1 tbsp cinnamon

- 1 tbsp ginger

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 mashed banana

Whahcya gotta do:

- set the oven to 300°

- mix your dry stuff

- mix your wet stuff

- mix all the stuffs together!

- add in the nuts/seeds

- mix as evenly as possible. It won't be super moist at all, but that's okay.

- spread everything on a cookie sheet

- bake for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 mins or so.

- if you want it crunchy (like me), bake it a bit longer on a lower heat (try 250°), then let it sit in the turned-off oven.

Before baking

After baking... nice 'n crunchy!

Approximate nutrition for a quarter cup:

125 calories
4.25 g of fat (from the nuts/seeds and oats)
18 g of carbs (from the oats, bananas, nuts, and honey)
3.5 g of protein (from the nuts/seeds and oats)

A very healthy alternative to store bought granolas that tend to add in mass amounts of unnecessary sugar! This all natural alternative not only TASTES amazing, but you can also eat it guiltlessly :)

So add it to yogurt, milk, or mixed berries. Or - if you're anything like me - just eat it by itself!

Enjoy! :)

Go Nuts for Banana Bread!

I've been D.Y.I.N.G. to make banana bread for a while now. And today was the day it finally happened. But this isn't just any banana bread. It's whole wheat-banana-nut-fruit-bread. Can you say healthy and delicious? AND SUGAR-FREE. That's just a bonus.

 So what goes into such a marvelous looking creation, you ask? Well:

- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup oat flour (grind up oats!)
- 1/2 cup seeds*
- 1/2 cup nuts*
- 1/3 cup dried fruit*
- 1/4 cup ground flax
- about a cup of mashed bananas
- a few tablespoons of shredded
   coconut
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/2 tsp baking soda

* * Use whatever nuts/dried fruit you have in your kitchen! I used pistachios, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds. I would have loved to use walnuts and pecans, but I currently don't have any in my cupboards! For the fruit, I used dried papaya, pineapple, dates, and raisins. Mangos and apples would have  been nice, too! Be creative :)

 To make this beautiful thing:
- set the oven to 375°
- Add the dry ingredients together
- mash the bananas, and mix with applesauce
- add the banana-applesauce mixture to the dry stuff
- mix in your nuts, seeds, and fruit!
- spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray
- Pop 'er in the oven for about 45 mins, or until a
   toothpick comes out clean.
- Let it cool, and EAT UP!


Okay, so let's get to the facts:
I cut my loaf into 13 slices. Per slice, the nutrition is as follows:
150 cals
6 g of fat (mostly from the nuts/seeds... HEALTHY)
20 g of carbs (mostly whole grain, and from the fruit... HEALTHY)
4 g of protein (from the seeds and whole grains... HEALTHY)

Concerned about the lack of sugar? Don't be. The mashed bananas and applesauce are both naturally sweet alternatives to the pesky white grainy stuff. Add more if you want a sweeter taste. The cinnamon also sweetens it up! And gives it a little spice. The dried fruit also offers a sugary taste. Try to stick to unsweetened dried fruit for a healthier option (don't worry, they still give your sweet tooth what it wants). Still not content?... Add honey, stevia, Splenda, or agave nectar. Even maple syrup will do the trick.

So there ya have it, ladies and gents.
Go NUTS for it! Go BANANAS for it!
It's... Healthy Banana-Nut bread.
(Cheesy, I know. But you get what you pay for, right?)

Hope you all try it and love it as much as I do! Best part about it is that you can play around with the mix-ins to make it exactly what you love!

:)

Protein Pancakes! A Guiltless Dessert.

As you have probably discovered, I have a massive sweet tooth. I would eat dessert for every meal if it was healthy to do so. So tonight I decided to try and master a healthy pancake! This also doubles as a great breakfast - BONUS!
I invented this recipe, and it's super easy, quick, and healthy.

To make 3 pancakes, all you need is:

- 2 tbsp eggwhites

- 1 scoop protein powder (I used vanilla)

- 1 tbsp ground flax seed

- cinnamon to taste

- cooking spray

All you need to do is:

1. Spray the pan

2. Whisk together all the other ingredients in a bowl.

3. Divide the batch into 3, and pour each one onto the pan individually.

4. Brown one side, flip, and brown the other.

5. Top with whatever you'd like. You could use peanut butter, Nutella, chocolate sauce, jam, chocolate chips, etc. I tried to keep it healthy, and used frozen raspberries and yogurt. You could also cook things into the pancakes (such as blueberries or chocolate chips) by adding them into the mixture in Step 2.

These pancakes make a wonderful and nutritious dessert! Make 'em for breakfast too, if you'd like!

NUTRITION INFO (pancakes without toppings):
210 calories, 4g of fat, 12g of carbs, 31g of protein.

Shrimp Spaghetti Squash

I LOVE pasta, but I'm not a huge fan of the carbs that come along with it. So I tried to make a mock pasta. I know, I know - nothing's as good as the real thing. But this imitation is pretty damn good, especially once you toss it in a lovely HEALTHY alfredo sauce. So anyways, what did I use as replacement noodles? Spaghetti squash, carrots, and zucchini.

Ingredients (makes 2 dishes):
- 1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise, seeds removed
- 2 zucchini, shredded with a vegetable peeler
- 2 carrots, shredded with a vegetable peeler
- 1 cup mushrooms
- 2 cups baby shrimp
- 2 tbsp herb & garlic cream cheese
- 2 tbsp light cream cheese
- 2 tbsp no fat sour cream
- 1 clove garlic, minced


What to do:
1. Set the oven to about 375. Put the squash halves in, skin side down. Let them bake for about 40 minutes, or until soft.
2. Spray a frying pan, and put in the shredded carrot, zucchini, and mushrooms.
3. Prepare the shrimp according to the package.
4. Mix together the veggies and shrimp, cook over medium heat.
5. Mix the cream cheeses, sour cream, and garlic in with the veggies/shrimp. You can add more or less cream cheese/sour cream depending on how you like your sauce.


It should look something like this at this point:

6. Take out the squash, and carefully (it's hot!) scrape the insides with a fork. You'll see why it's called a spaghetti squash - the inside pulls apart in strings, making it looks like spaghetti.

7. Scoop out as much as you can, and add it to the other veggies/shrimp in the pan.

8. Let it cook for another few minutes.

9. Make sure your squash skins are cooled, and scoop the "noodles" into the squash skin halves.

10. Eat up, and enjoy!

Although this dish is almost entirely vegetables, it is pretty filling. The protein from the shrimp adds some more substance, and the alfredo sauce adds some heaviness as well. The best part about this noodle dish is that it doesn't leave you feeling bloated and on a carb overload like most pastas do.

So try it out while squashes are still in season! It's a dish you won't want to miss!

Protein Power

Hopefully it's evident that I love baking, and try to make it as healthy and nutritious as possible!
I finally tried to make protein-packed baked treats! I made 2 different types: Chocolate Whey Protein Squares and Chickpea Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies.


Here they are:

Chocolate Whey Protein Cookies
Ingredients:
-6 egg whites (or 12 tbsp of egg white substitute)
- 1 3/4 cup oatmeal
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 cup applesauce 
- 4 scoops whey protein powder (I used chocolate and cookies n cream)
- cinnamon to taste





What to do:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350

2. Mix the apple sauce and eggwhites together.

3. Mix together the remaining ingredients.

4. Combine the 2 mixtures, and mix well.

5. Spread the mixture in a 9x9 baking dish, and pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.

6. Take it out, and let them cool.

7. Cut it into squares (I cut them into 16 pieces).

8. Eat up, and enjoy!

*Note: I will add that these did not turn out as moist as most brownies/cookies. However, they are still delicious!

NUTRITION INFO (per square): 90 calories, 1.4g of fat, 9.5g of carbs, 8.8g of protein (AMAZING)

Chickpea Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients (Makes 34 cookies):

- 2 scoops Whey protein powder

- 1.5 cup chickpeas*

- 1/2 cup peanut butter

- cinnamon to taste

- 1/2 cup flax seed meal** (ground flax seed)

- 1/4 cup egg whites

- 1/4 cup soy***

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350

2. Puree the chickpeas. You may want to add water or soy milk into the blender to provide a liquid. Or use some of the chickpea liquid from the can.

3. Mix the puree with the egg whites and soy milk

4. Mix the dry ingredients together separately.

5. Mix the 2 mixtures together.

6. Scoop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a cookie sheet.

7. Bake for about 15 minutes. Let 'em cool, and enjoy!

*The reason I decided to use chickpeas is because it's a great flour substitute! It's often used in gluten-free recipes. Chickpeas are also a great source of fibre and protein - making these cookies quite healthy!

** Flax seed meal is another alternative to flour. Flax seed is also a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and fibre. It's nutty taste mixes well with the peanut butter, making this recipe even more delicious!

***Of course you can use skim or 1% milk instead of soy milk. Although higher in fat, soy milk is loaded with protein and is preferable for anti-dairy people.

NUTRITION INFO (per 1 cookie): 38 calories, 1.4g of fat, 3.6g of carbs, 3g of protein