You know that feeling....

...when you switch shampoo or conditioner and your hair has never felt and looked better?

I asked Brandy at Shades 'N Waves her technique to get my hair so soft, yet full of volume.  She took her time and talked me through the routine she was doing, I went home to practice and was seriously disappointed.  If you know me, you know my version of styled hair is a little bit of back combing and, if I'm really feeling fancy, a bobby pin or a BRAID!

The next time Brandy put color in my hair I told her about my failure and then she asked me about my shampoo & conditioner.  Oh.

Apparently she has this theory that what you put on your hair has something to do with how it looks and feels.  Hmm.  Yeah... that makes absolute perfect sense.

Fueling your body is the same.  When you put crap in your body you don't feel (or look) your best.  Yes, it is cheaper.  Yes, this bottle is twice as big as the other and the same price.  Yes, yes and yes.  I'm sure your momma told you quality, not quantity.  That is the exact determination you need to make when grocery shopping.

Quality food.  Quality calories. Quality fuel. 

I'm sure you know to shop around the outer ring of the grocery store.  The high carbs & calories are located inside and on the ends of the aisles.  Take an extra 10 minutes and plan your meals for the week, walk in prepared.  In some of the upcoming posts I'll have a weekly shopping list with meals so you can plan ahead.

Look good, but most importantly feel good with the food you put into your body.  Also think about how much it's worth saving in the long run by making smarter decisions, boosting your immune system and teaching your children to make healthier decisions.

Fuel your body to do more than just stay alive.  Fuel your body to FEEL alive.

Italian cheese & herb veggie skillet

Easy.  Low-calorie.  Quick.  Healthy.  Filling.  Delicious.  Cost efficient.

All of us can appreciate the above adjectives... especially when it comes to making a great dinner!
In late spring I bought a little tub of the Philadelphia Cooking Crème . It sat in the back of my fridge in the land of pickle & jalapeno jars waiting for me to use it.  I don't know why it took me so long to try this ingredient.  Since I made this, I have purchased 3 more flavors to try!


Notice there are FOUR servings in this. Here is where you can alter both flavor & calorie count.  I took a butter knife and scored the crème inside in half to help ensure I only used half the tub to make 5 servings. 

Math: 1 tub= 110 Calories  / 2 = 55 calories per half.  55 calories/5 servings = 11 calories a serving.

Now that I have fully covered this delicious, flavorful addition to the recipe I will talk about the recipe…
I boiled 2.5 cups (measured dry) of whole wheat wide egg noodles.


*Optionally, and for about 100 more calories a serving you can brown some chicken in the skillet...or use some you prepared on Sunday like I told you about in this post.  After it’s browned, I used my phenomenal specialty bamboo cookware tools from Pampered Chef {thank you Momma!} to haphazardly cube and shred the chicken. The flat edge helps you do so much more than stir.  I toss in most, if not all, a bag of vegetable mix that has broccoli in it.

I always have several bags of this “California Style Veggies” frozen mix on hand because it can literally go in ANY dish.

Calorie count here: 30 calories a serving. 

Remember when I talked about how there are good calories and bad calories?  Well, these are good calories so if you have more than a serving it is absolutely ok.  It is the proper fuel for your body!

          

My delicious version seen above has chicken in it which adds an additional 80 calories ( I used 4 4 oz breasts and split the servings up so I have 5 servings.)  Additional calories in chicken also add about 17g of essential protein!

This cooking creme has made a quick weeknight meal into a healthy, delicious dinner like you won't believe!

Shamrock Salad

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to post on a dessert!!! It takes me 30 minutes to think of a dinner recipe but ask me what dessert to take to a cook out and I'll tell you 6 and have the recipe memorized.

This is a lighter dessert and is already on the "thumbs up" end of the dessert scale.  The way my family & in-laws have made it aren't bad but we can improve things slightly and it work out better! (Bigger serving anyone?!)

Some people call this pistachio salad, some shamrock salad and I'm sure your family has a name for it but it looks like this:

Shamrock Salad

It involves several of my favorites: marshmallows, chopped almonds, pineapple, cool whip and pistachio pudding. 

The kind my Grandma used to make has approximately 425-450 calories, 10g fat, 50g carbs, 5g fiber, 20g of sugar and 5g protein for 3/4 of a cup serving. That is with the full fat everything option & walnuts which have a high fat content (granted it is a good source of essential omega fatty acids).

This lower calorie version tastes the same but will save you 200-250 calories per 1 cup serving.

• 1 8oz tub of sugar free cool whip
• 3/4 c crushed pineapples (preferably from the produce section but if you get it in the can make sure it isn't in syrup!)
• 1/2 a packet of sugar-free fat-free pistachio pudding mix
• 2c mini marshmallows
• 1/4c chopped almonds

My calorie count is a range because I love pineapple so I added about a cup of pineapple.  I didn't have any prechopped almonds so I chopped my very first almond and it wasn't hard and it made use of the big bags I buy.  (The options are endless after I discovered how to make almond butter!).  

Have you ever had fresh pineapple? O.M.G.  it is so much better than the canned stuff.  I still eat the canned stuff but when budget allows I get some from the produce.  This is seriously one of the easiest desserts to make that you can eat a big bowl of without feeling that regret.  And kids love it, too! The spoonful above is how I got my 6 year old out of bed this morning since he didn't get to try any last night =)

Now for the nutritional breakdown: 150-175 calories, 5g fat, 33g carbs, 3g fiber, 15g sugar and 2g protein.
Most of the protein in the fattier version came from the almonds- which is also where all those fat & calories came from!

Natural Peanut Butter

They say smell is one of the greatest ties to a memory.  The smell of peppermint makes me think of my mom, everytime I smell a Werther's Original I think of a family friend of my parent's, and peanut butter makes me think of my husband.  His favorite food is peanut butter. Steak and chicken are a close second...

He goes through a jar of Skippy Natural every 10-14 days.  At about $7/jar that gets to be a pretty expensive food.

Did you know peanut butter has no butter in it at all?  The butter-like texture comes from the oils within the peanut being broken down.  With that in mind, I pulled out my tiny food chopper, a canister of unsalted peanuts and conducted an experiement. 

My little chopper takes a while.  And I have to hold down the button the whole time.  Some people with their fancy food processors can be done a lot faster than 8-10 minutes.  (Do you sense my food processor envy?)  My first batch needed some salt.  I determined with my second batch I salted it too much.  Then I just started buying the salted, dry roasted peanuts to make the peanut butter with and found this to be so much easier!
                                                

Keep crushing!

We're getting there!!

Ta-Da!!!!!   And you've only used about 75 cents worth of peanuts and made 8oz of natural peanut butter.  A 2 tablespoon serving is the same as 1 oz of peanuts so check the back of your canister for nutritional info. This is such a fun thing to do with kids.  =)

(Or maybe it's just fun to make them try this "experiment" while you rest for a few minutes!!  I won't tell!)

You can also add some cinnamon & sugar.  I like making the No-Bake Naturals with this kind of peanut butter for a little extra flavor!

Turkey Sausage

About 3 o'clock in the afternoon I begin to hit my wall.  I get so hungry! I blame it on my afterschool tendancies when I would eat a snack before volleyball or softball practice.  I mean, 3 hours after breakfast I'm not starving like I am at 3pm.

It is also back to school time!! Until Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution petition (read about it here) has had an effect, I will be packing my 1st grader's lunch.  I like to get things that we can both snack on and turkey sausage is something we fight over!  It is a good source of protien and paired with a small chunk of cheese puts it about 100 calories.  The sodium is a little high, yes, but have you tried the school's pizza?  Or spaghetti?  If we ate out more often I would worry, but because we don't use much salt at home so I am not concerned with that number. 

Kroger has a great price on these- you can find them in the little specialty cheese island they have usually near the bakery.

"I would do anything for love but I won't eat that..."

Why does meatloaf get such a bad rap?  Despite the title of this post I'm not talking about the singer... I mean the food.

Meatloaf is one of my favorite easy meals.  It may be weird that I sometimes crave meatloaf... afterall it is basically a hamburger, right?

Back when my little man was trying table foods, I decided to try making the meatloaf in a cupcake tin.  In the sweet words of my then 3 year old who was still working on his vocabulary, he named them "Meatloaf Pupcakes". 

They're super easy and the kiddos can help customize them.

Preheat oven to 350*
Spray your muffin tin

Mix together:
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 c onion chopped
1/2 c bell pepper chopped (I like the green ones)
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c Old Fashioned Oats
2 egg whites
1t pepper
1t red cayanne/chili powder OR Mrs. Dash Southwest
1 glove minced garlic or 2 tsp of the pre minced stuff you can get in the produce section!

Add to muffin tins & bake for 35-45 minutes.

If you want to get the kiddos involved, leave the veggies out of the initial mix. 
Put the meat/spices/oats/egg white mixture in the cupcake tin.
Kids like ketchup so it can be the "frosting" on top and have them add the veggie "sprinkles" before baking. 

Ketchup has a lot of carbs but Heinz offers a low-card Ketchup advertised as Reduced Sugar.  I eat my Meatloaf Pupcakes with Frank's Thick hot sauce because it only has 10 calories and a ton of flavor =)  I also add a little mustard to it since it is a free food and y'all know my love for mustard!

These have 75 calories, 2g fat, 2g carbs and 9g protein per pupcake.  Pair these with some green beans and mashed cauliflower and you have a wonderful comfort meal with a fraction of the calories!

Negative & Free Foods FYI

You've heard me mention a "free food" in a few posts but without much explanation.

A free food means the food has no nutritional value like water or mustard.  These are a great addition to your shopping list. 

How about one better?  A food that has low nutritional value that causes your body to burn more calories to digest it than the calories within the food.  These are supermarket must haves!

Fruits are so easy but it usually takes a little more prep-work (or convincing) to eat the veggies.  Asparagus and zucchini are great to toss on the grill with some Mrs. Dash.   Spinach seems easier to eat in a salad or in an omelet or mini-quiche.  Carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes are often seen Broccoli and cauliflower taste great steamed!

Since fresh vegetables can be expensive and sometimes go to waste, we buy frozen vegetables and steam them at least 5 nights a week.  I just use my Tupperware Microsteamer, fill the bottom with a little water, put some frozen veggies in the other chamber, put a lid on it and pop it in the microwave for 5 or 6 minutes.  I've had this my black & red steamer since 2005, it is dishwasher safe and hasn't shown a lick of use =)  The newest one is red & white and can be found at Tupperware.com for $29.99.

Sometimes I even do a cauliflower mash...similar to mashed potatoes.  I started slow with half potatoes and half cauliflower to ease my taste buds into it. 

I highly suggest investing in some Parkay spray butter to try your veggies.  After all, we still live in the South where butter makes everything better! 

Lean Mexican

We have a Mexican inspired dish weekly in our home and one of my favorites is so deliciously lean and easy we have it quite often.

• 1 lb of ground chicken (the leanest of the ground meats. You can use turkey or lean beef)
• 1 packet of low sodium taco flavoring
• 1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 c of frozen corn

Calories: 260 Carbs: 30 Fat: 7 Protein: 24

This is the base of the dish. I recommend to make it once this way, then figure out what else to add to it!

1. Brown the meat and drain any grease. (I like to put the heel of my bread loaf down in the grease to soak it up, then toss the bread.)
2. Add corn, drained & rinsed black beans and taco packet and stir.
3. Sometimes I add some water, depending on what kind of texture I want.

We often add onions, peppers of all colors, diced tomatoes, jalepenos, etc. I recommend to steer clear of sour cream, substitute plain greek yogurt if you're like me and just need that creamier flavor. I also like to scoop out half an avacado and mash it to add a creamy taste. I omit the taco sauce and use Frank's Hot Sauce instead since the calorie count is lower.

This takes about 15 minutes to make and has about 5-6 1 cup servings depending on how many veggies you toss in there.

Ole!

Grab & Go's

Every now and then I look at the ingredient list of a recipe and think Psht.  That cannot taste good.  No way.  It's too easy and there's only 5 ingredients.  And then this happens....

On the left you have what I call "Whey Too Goods" and on the right are my "No-Bake Naturals".

These are easy to whip up.  They're a healthy little snack.  It's hard to have only 2 but you will have to have some self discipline.  Here are the magical recipes:

As if this wasn't enough to share with you, below you'll find all the nutritional breakdown!!

Now- go make these and enjoy, I can't wait to try some of the "Whey Too Goods" with mocha protein! Or the graham cracker we have!  Oh wait- that cake batter would be good too! It's fun being the official recipe tester of Club Fit =)

 Moderation, not deprivation!! 

Prepare to be healthy

After a long day at work, going home to make a healthy dinner can honestly be the last thing on your mind.  Especially when you hear the $5 hot & ready pizza commercial about 5pm. 
I work in 2 chiropractic offices everyday and on my “lunch break” I run over to Club Fit to do some work there.  Time is one of the most valuable things we have and I make sure to use mine wisely.
Sundays are my meal prep days.  Sometimes I’ll also use Wednesdays as sort of a mid-week break to add something different.  The first thing I do is grab my cupcake pan, place an egg in each of the 12 slots and bake them at 350* for 25/30 minutes.  Yes- this absolutely takes longer than boiling them but  I don’t have a pot to watch boil and I can get more things done this way. 
Then I begin my meat preparation….

I have my steaks and chicken ready for trimming, tenderizing and seasoning.   After I trim the thawed chicken breasts, I cut them in half, trying to get 2 equal pieces about the size of deck of cards.  You can see my “aluminum bowls” I make to put the two 4(ish) ounces of chicken in to flavor it. 
Speaking of flavor, I always keep my spices lined up with their lids off so I can flavor away without having to go through drawers and cabinets. 

After I spice it up with some Mrs. Dash and other spices, I leave 2 servings out so I can bread them.  There are many different “crusty" mediums” you can use to bread your chicken but I opt for plain bread crumbs.  I add my salt & pepper myself, sometimes I’ll add a cajun spice, sometimes a chili pepper, it just varies but I like having that option. 
A serving of these bread crumbs is 1/4 cup.  I scoop that out add some ground flaxseed for fiber and put it in a dish/bowl/ziploc bag to coat one piece of chicken in it.  I remove it, add the coated piece to my aluminum bowl and then proceed to the next. 
I coated two pieces and still had 75% of my 1/4c serving left.  I coated a few more for my 6 year old then tossed the leftover crumbs.  I throw this bowl of chicken in the oven and send my husband out to the grill with the steaks and the 10 other pieces of chicken.
Now its time for sides…
My husband is awesome.  While I was taking care of the chicken he was peeling sweet potatoes and cutting them so we could have these:
These sweet potato fries are lightly drizzled in olive oil, have a few crumbles of brown sugar and are sprinkled in kosher salt to bring out that sweetness.  These cook for about 30-45 minutes at 400*.  I put my breaded chicken in with these for 30 minutes.  When the oven clicked off when the fries were done I just let the chicken stay in there for another 10 minutes to ensure it was done- plus I was busy with the other veggies.
Here is a yellow squash cut in half, then in quarters drizzled with olive oil, salt & pepper. 
Behind it you can see some ears of corn that have been salt & peppered and wrapped.  We put all this on the grill to cook; the corn cooks longer so it goes on when the chicken goes on.
You can also put some whole wheat rice on the stove… we have two kinds.  The 45 minute rice I can put on if I remember in time OR the 10 minute Uncle Ben’s rice.  Beware of flavored rice, it tends to pack the sodium.
I also rinsed & drained a can of black beans and put those on the stove on low and began steaming my vegetables.  I like broccoli,  cauliflower and mixes that include those. 

My breakfast is in the small bowls at the top, a peeled hard boiled egg wrapped in a cheap sandwich bag so it doesn’t make my No-Bake Naturals taste like egg.  I have 2 lunches and 4 dinners prepared (you can see 3 dinners, we ate the 4th!).  We go to Subway once a week and get a $5 footlong each and eat a 6” over the course of 2 days.  Its loaded with veggies, has some protein and mustard… obviously! That averages to be $2.50/lunch and gives us a little change up.  In the lunches I also added some fresh carrots and cucumbers so I can use my greek yogurt ranch dressing with it.  Some nights I’ll cook the 10 minute rice I mentioned for some slow digesting carbs.  I just love coming home to dinner that I only need to reheat.  If you’re one of those who doesn’t like “left overs” and reaheating you will have a very hard time preparing so you will have to dedicate more time each day to meals. 
I’ll have a two three great recipes for you coming up in the next few posts. These are tested and have passed my chocolate test, my husband’s protein test and my 6 year old’s complete taste “bugs” test.  Stay tuned and stay prepared!