Category Archives: Recipes

August 3, 2018 · 9:00 AM

Low Carb Chicken Parm

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You don’t have to give up chicken parm when switching to Keto or a low-carb lifestyle, you just have to get creative!

This 3-2-1 “breading” is super easy to make and is an amazing substitute for when those decedent Italian food cravings kick in.

All you need for the “breading” is:

  • 3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 Tbsp ground flax
  • 1 Tbsp almond flour

Mix them all together, dip you chicken in egg before dipping into the 3-2-1 coating and then fry up your chicken as you normally would.

Top with some low-carb friendly tomato sauce (Rao’s, Victoria and Mid’s are some of my favorites.) and nice amount of shredded mozzarella and cook until melty. Add a sprinkle of chopped basil and satisfy that Italian food craving without feeling guilty!

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July 27, 2018 · 9:00 AM

Stuffed Peppers = Simple Meal Prep

stuffed peppers

Meal prep is one of those things that should really be a non-negotiable when it comes to staying on track with a healthy lifestyle.

When we take the time to make a menu for the week, purchase the groceries that go with it and even pre-make some meals, we make it easier to avoid takeout and the drive-thru.

One of my favorite meal prep items to make are stuffed peppers. They are flavorful, convenient and tend to portion control themselves (as long as you don’t buy the biggest peppers you can find and overstuff the hell out of them.)

These are some stuffed pepper recipes I have shared on here in the past:

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers
Southwest Style Stuffed Peppers
Santa fe Style Stuffed Peppers

Sometimes I just keep it super simple and skip the recipes. You can just browned up some ground beef with onion & mushrooms, added some cumin, chili, cayenne, garlic, salt and tomato purée. Stuff it into par boiled pepper halves and topped with cheddar cheese. Bake them up and top with a little salsa and guacamole for a tasty low carb lunch.

Stuffed peppers are so versatile and can easily fit into a low carb lifestyle! For the recipes above that contain rice, just use cauliflower rice instead!

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June 11, 2018 · 9:00 AM

Low Carb Products I Like

It’s almost disturbing to me that I, the carb lover that I am, is writing a post about low carb items I like. However, low carb is the reality of the keto lifestyle, so you have to embrace it if you want to be successful, and you might as well like what you’re eating too, right!?

So this post will go over products I’ve stumbled upon, tried and enjoyed. Here we go…

Rao's Tomato Sauce

Rao’s, Mid’s and Victoria are all great sauce options when following low carb. They range fro 3-4 net carbs per servings and have a clean ingredient list. Just be sure to check the label…not all flavors are low carb!

Crazy Richard's PB

Crazy Richard’s is one of my favorite brands of PB (along with Teddy’s) – it is inexpensive but only contains peanuts and salt as the ingredients!

Just

This stuff is amazing on burgers, tacos and of course salad. It’s 2 net carbs per 2TBSPs and full of creamy, delicious flavor.

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G. Hughes Sugar Free BBQ Sauces are 2 net carbs per 2 TBSP and a summer must have!

One Bars

So these are my favorite things ever right now. (My absolutely favorite is the Cinnamon Roll which is not featured in this photo because I hadn’t found it at the time). These range in net depending on the flavor (remember, for net carbs you subtract the fiber and any sugar alcohols from the carbs on the label) – They are perfect for satisfying a sweet tooth or while traveling!

Enlightened Ice Cream

Low Carb ice-creams are a must for me. I’m sorry, I just can’t live without ice-cream. I know they’re high in sugar alcohol & some people don’t like that, but as an occasional treat, why not?! My favorite flavors are Cold Brew by Enlightened and I LOVE Pancakes & Waffles by Halo Top.

BANG

Energy drinks have never been my thing. They typically taste gross and make me feel sick to my stomach, but these….uh…game changer! I’m a caffeine junkie (not proud of this) and there are days when coffee just doesn’t cut it, so I’ll have one of these. They have zero calories, carbs or sugar. The contain creatine, caffeine and CoQ10. The only other flavor I’ve tried besides these are the Pina Colada and they’ve all been good.

I feel like this post is getting a little long so I’ll stop here. There are so many great items on the market like: Nekstella (it’s like Nutella), ChocZero, Lily’s SF Chocolate, KetoFeed protein and more.

Follow me on Instagram to see what new items I’m trying and if you have a favorite Low Carb item you can’t live without, please comment below or reach out to me on IG!

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June 10, 2018 · 9:00 AM

Fat Bombs: A Keto Staple

I think the hardest thing to wrap your head around when starting keto is the amount of fat that you will be eating per day. It just goes against everything we have learned over the years. It’s also not as easy as it sounds…and that my friends, is where the fat bomb comes in.

Below are a few of my favorite bombs. I also posted on for Cookie Dough fat bombs in my first keto post which can be found HERE.

CINNAMON PEANUT BUTTER FAT BOMBS

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•1/2 cup melted coconut oil
•1/4 cup natural pb
•1.5 tsp cinnamon
•1 tsp pure vanilla
•liquid stevia (to taste)

Mix everything together in a bowl. Add 1TBSP of mixture to candy mold or mini cupcake liners and freeze. (Makes 13-14 Fat Bombs)

CHOCOLATE COCONUT FAT BOMBS

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•1/2 pkg HERSHEY SF chips
•1TBSP coconut oil
•1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Melt chocolate & coconut oil together. Add shredded coconut to chocolate and stir. Spoon into candy mold or mini cupcake liners and freeze. (Makes 12 Fat Bombs)
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*Optional: sprinkle a little Celtic Sea Salt on top*

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUP FAT BOMBS:

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•1/2 pkg HERSHEY SF chips
•1TBSP coconut oil
•2TBSP natural PB (I used Crazy Richard’s Creamy)

Melt chocolate and oil together. Spoon a little into your candy mold or mini cupcake liner  and freeze until solid. Spoon a little of your pb into each cup and freeze again. Top with more chocolate and freeze one last time.

With all of these fat bombs, pop them out of the mold or liners and store in a a ziptop baggie in the freezer. Then you can just pop one or two out whenever your sweet tooth kicks in or you need to bump your fat up for the day!

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June 7, 2018 · 2:41 PM

Recipe: Low Carb Keto Pizza

Well hello once again everyone! I know…I know I posted a few months ago all excited about starting keto and promising to share my thoughts and results with it and I failed to do so.

What can I say? Life happens. Between work, meal prep and starting a new routine at a gym, I was short on time and focus. I really do apologize and yet again, I’m vowing to try to be better about posting here.

Now…for those of you who are just here for the Low Carb Keto Pizza, I’ll shut up and post the recipe now. I’m even going to include a second recipe for a Low Carb White Pizza, as a consolation prize for reading my rambling.

(I’ll do a separate post about how the last few months on keto went for me for those who care tomorrow!)

Low Carb Keto Pizza

I used 1/2 of a Joseph’s Lavash bread.
2-3Tbsp of Mid’s pizza sauce (Rao’s is also a good low-carb sauce option)
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
5-6 tsps ricotta cheese
A sprinkle of basil, Black pepper & red pepper flakes
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I brushed the bottom of the lavash with some olive oil and placed it on my griddle pan (you could cook it in the oven too). Topped it with the sauce, cheese, ricotta & spices and cooked it until the lavash got crispy and the cheese became bubbly.
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Easy peasy, yummy, low-carb goodness!

Low Carb Keto White Pizza

For this White Pizza I used:

1 Mission Whole Grain Low-Carb tortilla (you could use a 1/2 of a Joseph’s Lavish too)
!/4 cup Whole Milk Ricotta
Broccoli that I sautéed in garlic and oil
A sprinkle of whole milk mozzarella

This can be cooked just like the pizza above. I then I drizzled it with chili oil for a little kick, but you could just use a sprinkle of red pepper flakes for an added kick.

I hope you enjoy these quick, low carb pizza options and I thank you for stopping by the blog after all of these months with no content!

My goal is to share my keto experience, foods that I found that helped me with cravings and to just overall share my journey again.

If you’re on Instagram and we don’t follow each other yet, please check me out there and shoot me a message saying “Hi!”

(I am THE most consistent with posting over there…it’s just a quick and fun platform that I really enjoy!)

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May 15, 2016 · 8:09 PM

Avocado Bacon Stuffed Turkey Burgers

The temps are slowly rising, the yard is getting cleaned up and we picked up a new propane tank, so that means grill season is coming!

My love for Pinterest is still strong so I’ve been collecting recipes to try and I’m happy to report that this one was a winner! I looked at quit a few of the avocado turkey burger recipes on there and decided to create my own by taking a little from each and the results were moist and delish!

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I mixed everything except the avocado together first to ensure that the garlic and onion was distributed evenly, without working the avocado too much.

Be sure the spray your grill with some nonstick spray or wipe down the grill grates with some oil so there is no risk of sticking.

INGREDIENTS
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 large ripe avocado – cut into chunks or gently mashed
  • cooked, chopped bacon
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • ½ tsp pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Add all your ingredients  to a large bowl and gently mix together. If patties seem really moist and won’t form together well for you, add ⅓ cup bread crumbs but they will no longer be Whole30 compliant.
  2. Shape into patties and grill, making sure to cook the turkey meat completely.

These burgers were super moist and full of flavor! They are also paleo friendly and Whole 30 friendly (if you use Whole 30 approved bacon).

We served these up with some sweet potato fries and I served mine over some baby spinach and topped it sriracha ketchup.

For those of you who follow the 21 Day Fix, these could be counted as 1 Red and 1 Blue container. (Counts are for 1 burger only without a bun)

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March 2, 2016 · 7:06 PM

Hot Pepper Jelly Pork Roast

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here. Life tossed our family a bunch of curve balls in December and the dust is finally settling, so I thought I would get back to posting here. My goal is to share more recipes here, especially recipes that fit into the 21 Day Fix meal plan. The program has become so popular and the nutrition portion is so important that it’s pretty much taken over Pinterest. These posts may get lost in the 1,000 of other you can find or they may help someone. I don’t know, but I certainly hope that they help!

To kick things off, I want to share a Hot Pepper Jelly Pork Roast recipe that I recently tried. If you have never heard of pepper jelly or tried it, it’s really good stuff. I personally had never tried it before this recipe, but a friend of mine owns her own pepper jelly company, Jennifer’s Kitchen, and was nice enough to hook me up with a jar of her new low sugar line.

Doing the 21 Day Fix? I used my red container to measure out my portion and topped it with a spoonful of the sauce and some of the onions, counting it as a RED and 2 teaspoons.

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This pepper jelly packs a nice punch of sweet heat, which is the perfect pairing for pork or chicken. I happened to pick up some pork at the grocery store the other day, so that’s what I decided to use for my first pepper jelly experience.

Italian Style Pork Chops

Ingredients
4 Boneless Pork Chops
1 Tbsp of olive oil
1/2 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of chopped garlic
2 Tbsps pepper jelly (start with less if you don’t like a lot of heat)
1 tsp of basil
sea salt
sprinkle of parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Heat oil in pan for a minute on high.
2. Add pork chops and sear on both sides. Remove pork from pan.
4. Lower heat to medium; add onions – cook until translucent.
5. Add garlic, pepper jelly, tomatoes and basil and cook for 2 mins.
6. Return pork to pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Spoon tomato mixture over each piece of pork and serve.

Fresh basil would be so good in this, but I didn’t have any on hand.

I served this with Parmesan Spinach Orzo, but if you want to keep things low carb, serve with zoodles.

We really enjoyed this recipe a lot. This particular jelly was hot, so if you use a hot pepper jelly and aren’t a huge fan of spice, you may want to cut back on how much you add.

If you are a fan of pepper jelly, I would LOVE to hear how you like to enjoy it. I’m hoping to try using it for chicken wings next.

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October 15, 2015 · 8:05 PM

Oven Fried Chicken {Healthy Comfort Food}

Oven Fried Chicken

Forget greasy fried chicken! This oven fried chicken recipe has all of the juiciness and crunch you’d expect from fried chicken, without the added fat and calories.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • Nonstick Cooking Spray
  • 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/8 – 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup cornflakes, crushed finely
  • 1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 4-oz pieces*

* I’m a huge fan of dark meat, so I use boneless skinless chicken thighs. 2 thighs per serving.

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Combine flour, Cajun seasoning, pepper and cayenne pepper together in a medium size bowl. Place buttermilk and corn flake crumbs in 2 separate shallow bowls.
  3. Roll chicken in flour mixture and evenly coat each side. Next dip chicken into buttermilk and then corn flake crumbs.
  4. Place coated chicken on your prepared baking sheet. Spray chicken with a light coating of the cooking spray.
  5. Bake until chicken is tender and no longer pink, about 25 to 30 minutes (there is no need to flip the chicken during baking).
    Makes 4 servings.

For those of you using the 21 Day Fix this is roughly 1 yellow and 1 red.

Once you have your first round of the program under your belt, try not to stress out over your containers. Life should be about balance and making healthier choices to keep yourself headed toward your goals and this recipe does that…even if you don’t have exact container counts.

Anytime you skip the KFC drive-thru, search for a healthier recipe and go to the store to buy the ingredients to make it, you’re on the right track!

What would be your side dish of choice with this chicken? We opted for some zoodles quickly sauteed with garlic.

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October 13, 2015 · 7:16 PM

Shepherd’s Pie {Healthy Comfort Food}

Healthy Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd’s Pie and comfort food go hand in hand to me. Mashed potatoes, beef, veggies and a creamy sauce….yuuuuum!!

In this version, I have lightened things up a lot. There is no butter, milk, cream or sour cream to be found, but there is still a lot of comforting flavor!

Healthy Shepherd’s Pie

Potato Topping:

  • 2 lbs Yukon gold or Russet potatoes (peeled and diced)
  • 3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
  • 2 Tbsps Greek yogurt
  • salt & pepper to taste

Meat Filling:

  • 1.5 lbs 95% lean ground beef
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
  • 2 cups frozen peas & carrots
  • 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup low sodium beef broth
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Boil potatoes in a medium pot of salted water until cooked and soft. Drain and mash with chicken broth, Greek yogurt, salt and pepper, set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  3. In a large saute pan brown meat over medium high heat, breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms and sauté on medium heat about 6 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the flour, frozen vegetables, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Simmer on medium for about 8-10 minutes, until sauce thickens.
  5. Spread the meat filling on the bottom of 9×13 casserole dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with paprika. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, then place under the broiler 1 to 2 minutes until the potatoes turn golden. Remove from oven and let it cool 5 minutes before serving.  Makes 6 servings.

21 Day Fix and Fix Extreme Containers: 1.5 Yellow, 1 Red, 1 Green

For those of you following the 21 Day Fix, you can cut back on your yellow container and tack on an extra green by cutting the amount of potatoes and adding mashed cauliflower. The two mix together wonderfully and you keep the great potato flavor without going over on a yellow container.

Want to cut all of the potato? Top with just mashed cauliflower. Not sure how to make mashed cauliflower? Just steam your cauliflower, toss into a food processor with the Greek yogurt and broth and pulse it all together until creamy. (Reserve a little cooking water or add some more broth if it is too thick.)

You can also substitute mashed sweet potato for your topping!

This is a really a forgiving dish and a great way to use up veggies that you may in the fridge.

I hope you are enjoying this Healthy Comfort Food segment. Don’t forget to share YOUR favorite comfort food with me below, so I can try and share a healthy alternative to it.

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October 12, 2015 · 4:58 PM

Portuguese Kale Soup {Healthy Comfort Food}

Portuguese-Kale-Soup

Fall is the official beginning of comfort food season. The temperatures drop, we dig out the sweaters and there is something about casseroles, soups and baked pastas that just warms our soul as we kick off fall.

This time of year also tends to be the start of weight gain season for many. The sweaters hide the bulge, the leggings have give and stretch along with us as we indulge in these comfort foods and baking season, which isn’t far behind.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring healthy comfort foods that will help you to combat the cold weather weight gain. These hearty meals will satisfy your cravings while keep your waist line in check. PLUS if you’re doing the 21 Day Fix, they will also be plan approved!

There are so many reasons to love this Portuguese-inspired kale and sausage soup. As with many soups, this recipe tastes even better on the second day. For that reason, this soup is great for meal prep. It makes enough for a whole week of lunches or dinners, and freezes well.

Portuguese Kale Soup

Total Time: 48 min.
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cooking Time: 38 min.
Yield: 6 servings, about 1¼ cups each

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
8 oz. turkey kielbasa sausage, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 medium leeks, chopped, just white and light-green parts
1 bunch kale, stems removed and discarded, torn (about 4 cups)
1 (15-oz.) can kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, no added salt
6 cups low-sodium organic chicken (or vegetable) broth
Ground black pepper (to taste; optional)

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add kielbasa; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until browned.
3. Add garlic, leeks, and kale; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until soft.
4. Add kidney beans, tomatoes, broth, and pepper (if desired). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Nutrition-PortugeseKaleSoup

Doesn’t that look and sound delicious?!

Personally, I think the best part about this recipe is that it is meal prep friendly. If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know I am big on meal planning and meal prep, especially when doing the 21 Day Fix. It truly is the key to staying on plan and avoiding temptation during the week, when things can get hectic.

If you’re new to the 21 Day Fix, be sure to check out my 21 Day Fix Planning tools.

Been thinking about trying 21 Day Fix but have questions? Feel free to contact me with them! I’d be more than happy to help you figure out if it would be a good fix for you….plus it’s on special this month and I have a new accountability group beginning on October 26th!

What’s your favorite comfort food once the temps start cooling down?

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