Tasty Tuesday – Meatloaf Muffins Recipe by Amber

Hey guys! Happy Tasty Tuesday to you!

I have something new and exciting for you today – a guest post! Please, meet Amber Vesey – the face behind Eats and Exercise by Amber.

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Today Amber is sharing one of her recipes with us, so I will let her take the floor from now on. I hope you like the recipe and please, take a moment to connect with Amber for more wonderful recipes and exercise routines she shares on her Facebook page, her blog and Instagram.

Growing up, I would groan at my mother’s announcement that we would be having meatloaf for dinner.  Over the course of the last few years, my eating habits have transformed drastically and so have my taste buds.  Now, I look forward to the next time when I’ll be home and can dine on the comfort of my mother’s meatloaf.  While delicious, my mother’s recipe needed some revamping to make it more nutritious.  With my meal prepper mindset, I thought it would be more efficient to make Meatloaf Muffins, so more could be made at once, prepped to eat through out the week or even frozen to eat at a later date!
This recipe was my first attempt ever at making meatloaf, let alone in the shape of muffins but I am VERY happy with how it turned out!  It was super moist and juicy, a worry of mine was that it would be too dry, but that was not the case!  The recipe below is based off of my mother’s original, but there are other ways you could make meatloaf muffins, such as swapping out the BBQ sauce and ketchup for onion and seasoning, and maybe even adding some spinach!  It really depends on what you like best!  Take an original family recipe and make some healthy swapportunities!  Comment below with any switches you made or if you thought of another Meatloaf Muffin idea!
MEATLOAF MUFFINS

Meatloaf Muffins-1

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 lb. ground turkey (makes five meatloaf muffins)
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1-2 slices GF bread* (see below tip)
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 Tablespoon Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey BBQ Sauce (plus one squirt, after I mixed it all)
  • 1/4 Cup Ketchup
  • Pepper and Garlic Powder to taste
* You will need to use gluten free bread as part of the recipe, *if you use Udi’s or any other frozen bread normally, it is helpful that at the end of a loaf, you save the ‘butts’ in the crisper of your fridge so you always have defrosted bread on hand.  Don’t already do this?  No worries, you can toast a slice of bread and it works just as well.  Be careful with defrosting a slice of bread in the microwave though, I did it for too long once and the bread was not the right consistency to crumble and I had to throw the slice out which is a sacrilege since it’s so expensive in the first place!
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat oven to 375
  2. Add ground turkey, egg, garlic, pepper, garlic powder, ketchup and Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey BBQ
  3. Crumble GF bread and add to mixture, mix well with your hands

Meatloaf Muffins-2

   4. Spray/grease muffin tin
   5. Roll meat mixture into balls, place into tin, unlike making cupcakes or muffins, you want the meat mixture coming up out of the tin, since it will not rise

Meatloaf Muffins-3

6. Place aluminum foil or a cookie sheet under your muffin tin in case the meat drips
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes, poke holes or cut in half to check the inside
8. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, to ensure that the meat is fully cooked, take out one of the muffin halves and make sure there is no pink on the inside
Pair these muffins with mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes, putting it on top and creating a meatloaf “cupcake” instead!

Meatloaf Muffins-4

Tips/Notes
  • This was my first attempt ever, so the recipe time is a bit estimated, since while I was mid cooking my oven decided to shut off, effecting the times
  • Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce brand is gluten free, if using another sauce, please check the ingredients or company website!
  • You can top each muffin with ketchup while cooking, I only tried that with one of the muffins, I am unsure if it made a huge difference
  • Cut muffins in half to ensure they cook fully if you are paranoid like me about undercooking meat
  • Place muffin tin on a cookie sheet or aluminum foil in case the turkey “drips” to prevent the excess from hitting the bottom of the oven and burning!  No one likes the smoke detector to go off while trying to cook a delicious dinner!

Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with us, Amber! I don’t know about you, guys, but I am definitely making those muffins in the near future 🙂

Stay fit and warm!

Lena

Weekend Cooking Spree

Hey guys! How was your weekend?

Mine was busy!

The weather was just gorgeous here this weekend, but sadly, I didn’t get to do much outside.

On Saturday morning hubby and I headed out to the Y to take Jim’s indoor cycling class. It was so nice out that I decided to take my new Vibram Five Fingers for a walk.

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Love-love-love them!

Since my Spinning® instructor training I noticed that my workout attitude and the overall “feeling” at a cycling class has changed dramatically! For some reason I was always going for the speed – thinking that if I go faster, it will be better for me, I will burn more calories and all that crap. Well, that all has changed now. I am doing speed work, too but generally try to apply more resistance on the wheel than I used to and focus more on my heart rate rather than the RPM.

Taking the training also changed my entire perspective on what a bike set up should be – I have my saddle a lot higher now and I’ve noticed that it is making it much easier on my knees – a lot less cracking! 🙂

Anyway, with that in mind, I went pretty close to my usual distance on Saturday but burnt the number of calories I haven’t burnt in a cycling class in a long time.

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I did take a nice two-hour nap on Saturday after this class + yoga. I just had to! It was the best nap of my life 🙂

When I woke up from my nap, it turned out the youngest had gone for a sleepover, so suddenly me and hubby had the evening to ourselves. We headed out for dinner to a Chinese place, and then decided to do some wandering around TJ Maxx. Well, I never leave that store without a score (yep, I rhymed that on purpose!)

Got me some yoga socks :)

Got me some yoga socks 🙂

I’ve been eyeing those for a while, but they just cost some ridiculous money it seems like. These were $3.something a pair so I got them and will give them a try this Wednesday!

On Saturday I also managed to squeeze in some meal prep into my day somewhere between the two workouts and the nap.

Homemade hummus, quinoa, water infused with cucumber and frozen mint leaves

Homemade hummus, quinoa, water infused with cucumber and frozen mint leaves

Did you notice I got my water infusing water bottles that I mentioned here? 🙂 I just love the one with the orange cap except for one thing – it had a huge sticker on the front. Being an OCD driven woman, I took it off and now it’s sticky. Some Googone will have to be applied – and that’s just too many motions for something I want to get in the mail and simply enjoy. If you don’t have an OCD, you will do just that without Googone – enjoy 🙂

The one with the red lid and bottom – I haven’t quite figured it out yet – the infuser part comes out through the bottom, if you don’t put the bottom lid back on tightly – it leeks. It’ll take me a while to make friends with this one 🙂

Anyway! On Sunday morning we slept in and hubby made me an awesome brunch.

crispy bacon, poached eggs, potatoes and English muffin

crispy bacon, poached eggs, potatoes and English muffin

And then it started…My cooking bug was obviously up and full force this weekend. I just couldn’t stop cooking!

I did my lunch prep for the week:

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Cut up some bananas to freeze for my smoothies:

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Made some more infused water (oranges and tangerines):

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Made these super awesome breakfast corn muffins with cheese and ham:

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By the time I was done with my meal prep, it was time to make dinner. So I threw together this chicken with veggies.

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And yes, those are pecan bars you see in the background – I made them, too. What? The oven was warm anyway 🙂

Tell me: what fun stuff did you do this weekend?

And as always – stay fit!

Healthy Living Tips: Q&A about Infused Water

Hi guys!

Happy Hump Day!

I’ve been asked a lot about infused water lately. By no means am I an expert in this, but I thought I’d share some tips I discovered.

I make infused water every Sunday (sometimes twice a week) and I think it is a great healthy alternative to store bought juices, leave alone soda:

  • it does not contain any added sugar
  • it is cheaper
  • it is more delicious
  • it is better for you

So below are answers to some common questions I get about making infused water.Continue Reading

Tasty Tuesday – Foodie’s Guide to Snacking

Hey, happy Tuesday! Tasty Tuesday! 🙂

Are you a snacker?

I am a “snacker”. Oh, I am such a “snacker”.

I am one of those people who needs to eat every couple hours. WHAT to eat is a big question here as you want to keep your body fueled, not overwhelmed by what you put in your month in between the meals.

I have been on the hunt for perfect snacks and sharing my finds with you today.

{ONE} Homemade Peanut Butter and Banana.

First of all, you can easily use store bought PB if you don’t feel like making your own. If you do feel like making your own, check out this recipe here that I used. I should have processed mine a little longer though – it is a little crumbly.

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{TWO} Smoothie

There is nothing like a good smoothie to keep me going until my next meal!

Usually I put all the ingredients for my morning smoothie in the blender cup the night before and put it in the fridge. Whirl it up in the morning after breakfast and take to work with me. This way I don’t reach for that candy in the break room at work but drink my delicious smoothie that keeps me going until lunch.

The flavor possibilities are endless and you are your own chef!

Smoothies

My “must include” ingredients are frozen fruit and cottage cheese/yogurt – they create the thick and creamy consistency that I like.

{THREE} Homemade Hummus

Love it! Try making it using this recipe and you will never buy hummus again! Have it with veggies or tortilla rounds.

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{FOUR} Fruit

Perfect snack! Sweet, juicy and good for you. Prep some the night before or on the weekend (rinse, peel, cut, pack in zip lock bags) and take to work.

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{FIVE} Nuts

If you love nuts as much as I do, it is probably very difficult for you to avoid buying and eating nut bars. Am I right?

Choose raw nuts over nut bars and spare yourself that extra added sugar. Don’t buy the “super-protein-and-fiber-packed” promises on the labels. Just eat raw nuts instead.

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{SIX} Homemade Granola

Is a super-snack! Make a batch on the weekend, pre-pack in zip lock bags or small plastic containers and enjoy during the week.

Here’s a recipe for you to play with – add/substitute the ingredients depending on what you like and keep it healthy!

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Add fruit and/or cottage cheese/yogurt to it and you got a perfect snack or breakfast!

{SEVEN} Baked Oatmeal

This is not only a GREAT breakfast, but also an awesome snack – one of my all-time favorites. Make a whole batch on the weekend and you have a ready snack/breakfast for the whole week.

One of the base recipes is right here for you – play with it as you like.

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Enjoy with yogurt, fruit and/or cottage cheese on top.

There you have it – 7 snack ideas for 7 days of the week.

To sum it up, here are some general guidelines when it comes to snacking:

  • Prep-prep-prep. Don’t be lazy to do your meal/snack prep on the weekend – you’ll be happy you did. Rinse and pack fruit and veggies, make a batch of baked oatmeal, granola or hummus and pre-pack for the weekdays. Cut up and freeze bananas and other fruit for your smoothies. Put all the ingredients in the blender cup the night before for your morning smoothie. You will thank yourself later.
  • Always carry a healthy snack in your purse. Never leave the house without one. What happens is – you are out and about – > you get hungry – > Les Big Mac. Don’t let it happen and have a healthy snack with you.
  • Make smart choices (choose raw nuts over sugar packed nut bars).
  • Before you buy, ask yourself – can I make it myself? If you can – make it!
  • Let fruit and veggies always be your number one choice when it comes to snacking.

Share: link up your favorite snack recipes below or share in comments: what is your favorite snack?

Stay fit!

Lena

MNB Challenge, Week 2 Recap – Nourish

Hey guys! It’s the weekend! YEY!

We are totally and completely snowed in this week!

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I needed a training plan to shovel all that! My back and arms are still sore…

Anyway, back to the business –  today I am going to tell you about Week 2 of the Move. Nourish. Believe Challenge that I am taking part in.

You can find the first week’s recap here if you missed it last Friday.

So, the second week was all about nourishing your body.

{MONDAY} Go Meatless

This week’s Monday was announced to be Meatless Monday by the challenge hosts Fit Approach and Lorna Jane Active.

The name speaks for itself – we had to go meatless.

Meatless Monday

I had oatmeal with honey and frozen raspberries for breakfast, pasta salad for lunch and Thai food (salmon, fried rice with veggies and tofu, and rice noodles) for dinner as it was Simon’s birthday and we went out to eat.

{TUESDAY} Bring your lunch to work

Tuesday was Bring Your Lunch to Work day. That one was easy for me – even though I didn’t get my usual massive food prep done last weekend (as I spent most of it in my Spinning Instructor Training), I still managed to prep salads for a couple of week day lunches and also took some leftover fried rice with veggies and tofu to work with me from the night before.

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{WEDNESDAY} Write it down!

On Wednesday the challenge was to journal our food and show what we ate (another easy one for me since I do it every day with MyFitnessPal).

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

{THURSDAY} Thirsty Thursday

On Thursday the challenge was to make a healthy smoothie. Another easy one for me! I usually make a smoothie every morning and take it to work with me to have as a morning snack as I have breakfast pretty early and usually get hungry by 10:30 am.

Carrot Cake Smoothie

So, the Thursday smoothie was:

1 carrot cake popsicle

1 frozen banana

2 tbsp. Activia Greek yogurt (vanilla)

1/2 cup almond milk

1 tsp agave nectar

1 tsp sliced almonds (to garnish)

3-4 frozen raspberries (to garnish)

1/4 tsp chia seeds (to garnish)

{FRIDAY} Go raw!

Now, that was a heard one for me… even though I love salads, fruit, veggies and smoothies.

I did some prep.work the day before:

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So all I had to do on Friday was stick to the plan! That made it a lot easier for sure.

Breakfast smoothie: spinach, kale, celery, avocado, frozen banana, almond milk

Breakfast smoothie: spinach, kale, celery, avocado, frozen banana, almond milk

Lunch was an all-veggie salad with spinach, avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, red onions, corn and pepitas.

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Dinner unfortunately was not raw…hubby took me out to eat for Valentine’s day, so my plan did not work 🙁

Now – on to Week 3 of the challenge – the Believe part! Stay tuned for the recap next weekend.

Question: have you ever tried raw eating? What did you think of that?

Stay fit, friends!

Lena

Recipe: Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey guys! Happy Saturday!

I hope you’re having a wonderful day. While I am at a very exciting event right now, which I will tell you about in the beginning of next week, I have scheduled this post to share a great recipe I have recently discovered.

I was looking for a recipe for oatmeal cookies last week and found this one in my recipe keeper. I honestly don’t know where it came from, but with a few changes to the original recipe, it turned out great and not so damaging 🙂

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

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INGREDIENTS:
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 ripe banana, mashed
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cup old fashioned oats
  • 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 5 oz dried cranberries
  • 2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat oven to 375º F
  2. Beat butter, sugar and banana together until light and fluffy
  3. Add eggs, mixing well
  4. Combine oats, flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl
  5. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition
  6. Stir in dried cranberries and chocolate chips
  7. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets
  8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown
  9. Cool on wire rack

Makes 18 cookies @ 173 calories per cookie.

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Have a wonderful weekend, guys! Stay fit and warm.

Lena

Tasty Tuesday – Homemade Hummus Recipe

Hey guys! Happy Tasty Tuesday from the snow covered PA!

My back yard yesterday

My back yard yesterday

you can see on the patio table how much snow we got

you can see on the patio table how much snow we got

and on my garage light...

and on my garage light…

and the trees still look like they came out of a fairy tale

and the trees still look like they came out of a fairy tale

So this past weekend, in preparation for the Big Game, I was thinking about the snack menu and decided to go with tortia rounds and homemade hummus.I then embarked on a long and complicated journey of finding a perfect recipe for it as I had already had a few unsuccessful attempts in making hummus at home.

I found this recipe here and decided I will share it on my blog with you guys and so I could go back to it myself when I need to.

The link above has great pictures of the process and a lot of details on “how to” and why not any other way, so I am just going to do the facts here 🙂

Homemade Hummus Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Homemade Hummus Recipe

Ingredients

  • One 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • Half of a large garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons water
  • Dash of ground paprika for serving

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine tahini and lemon juice. Process for 1.5 minute.
  2. Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin and the salt to whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 1 minute.
  3. Add half of the chickpeas to the food processor then process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, add remaining chickpeas and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until thick and smooth.
  4. If the hummus is too thick or still has tiny bits of chickpea, with the food processor turned on, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water until the consistency is perfect.
  5. To Serve: scrape the hummus into a bowl then drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the top and sprinkle with paprika.
https://leanlena.com/tasty-tuesday-homemade-hummus-recipe/

I hope you’re enjoying your week so far and staying warm!

Lena

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Hey guys! Happy Tasty Tuesday!

Just checking in today with a quick recipe that has been my “go to” breakfast lately. These cottage cheese pancakes are super delicious and come together in 15 minutes! Mix the ingredients the night before, make pancakes in the morning in 5 minutes and be happy. 🙂

You can also add some protein powder to this recipe for extra protein boost to your breakfast.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 7 minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 1 serving

Serving Size: 2 pancakes

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Ingredients

  • 2-3 tbsp. cottage cheese (I used 1% fat)
  • 2 tbsp. whole grain flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Mix all the ingredients until well combined. The mix may be lumpy because of the cottage cheese.
  2. Make pancakes.
  3. Enjoy!
https://leanlena.com/cottage-cheese-pancakes/

Five on Friday

Hey guys! Happy Friday!!!

Here I am again with five things that I am loving lately.

{{ONE}} Conscious box

Oh. My. God. I saw the ads pop up a lot on the internet, and finally decided to try it. The idea behind it is – you subscribe for certain number of months (can be as little as one), and every month you get a box of goodies – all healthy and organic stuff. When I ordered mine, they had a promotion running where you had to pay shipping only and get the first box for free.

Check out some things I got in my box:

Mighty Leaf Tea

Mighty Leaf Tea

Beauty Bursts!

Beauty Bursts!

Wholesome sweeteners

Wholesome sweeteners

and lots of other wonderful things that made me a one happy camper!

and lots of other wonderful things that made me a one happy camper!

Would you like to get a conscious box? Then you need to head over here.

{{TWO}} Lemon Bars

So last weekend I was browsing through Facebook and stumbled upon a great recipe for Lemon Bars.

I have never made those before, I don’t think I ever had one either, but they looked so good and easy to make that I decided to go for it and make a batch.

Aren't the gorgeous?

Aren’t the gorgeous?

You can find the recipe for these wonderful things on Lauren Kelly’s blog.

{{THREE}} Oranges Infused Water

Well, you guys already know from my previous Five on Friday post that I have been addicted to oranges lately. It got worse – now I infuse water with oranges 🙂

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{{FOUR}} “Women, Food and God” by Geneen Roth

What a wonderful book!

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Buy Women Food and God on Amazon

Initially, I heard about this book from the list of recommended reading for the “Yoga Fit Yoga Lean” certification course with Beth Shaw.

What a wonderful reading it has been! Very refreshing and useful book to read for those who what to look deeper into their relationships with food 🙂

{{FIVE}} My New Food Scale

Long time ago I got myself a food scale. Loved it! So easy when you need to control your portion size or keep track of the recipe ingredients.

Time went by and one day my kitty dumped a pot of dirt onto the scale (didn’t you see it coming?) 🙂 Well, I was “smart” enough to wash it off with water. My scale stopped working…

So I was on the market for a new one. It amazes me how ridiculously expensive these things are! So I went searching on Amazon for two reasons – the prices for these at the store just did not seem reasonable, and reason #2 -me being a lazy busy person. Here’s what I found.

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And that concludes my Five on Friday! Have a wonderful weekend, guys, and…

Your turn! Tell me about your Five on Friday!

 

Recipe: Coconut Milk, Kale and Steelhead Trout Soup

Hi guys! Happy Saturday morning to you!

What are you up to today? What’s cooking in your kitchen?

Are you planning anything special for Saturday dinner? I got a very easy to make and super delicious dinner idea for you today.

Last week I was cooking something with coconut milk. You know how it goes with coconut milk, right? You never really use the whole can and whatever is left over ends up in the trash couple weeks later. A few days ago I was facing the same problem so I got online to look for some recipes that would help me use up the leftover coconut milk that was calling my name out of the fridge.

That was when I stumbled upon this great recipe from the Healthy Green Kitchen. I have played around and changed it up a little bit to my liking and based on what ingredients I had in my fridge (like steelhead trout instead of salmon). Oh, and next time you need an idea of what to cook for dinner – you head right over to the Healthy Green Kitchen! It is exactly what it is called – healthy and green! Winnie has a ton of great recipes on her blog that I will definitely be trying out. Thank you for this recipe, Winnie! I hope you don’t mind my modifications 🙂

Coconut Milk, Kale and Steelhead Trout Soup

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 3 servings

Calories per serving: 201

5.2

Coconut Milk, Kale and Steelhead Trout Soup

Ingredients

  • 4 cups homemade chicken stock (I used the stock I had from making a whole chicken in my crockpot the night before)
  • 1 1/2 cups whole coconut milk
  • 1 steelhead trout fillet, approximately 6-8 oz., cut into cubes
  • 1 (tightly packed) cup of chopped kale, stems removed
  • 1 cup cubed acorn squash (peeled)
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (plus a few leaves for garnish)
  • 2 tsp brown sugar, coconut sugar, or palm sugar
  • Freshly squeezed lime juice, for serving (to taste, I used 1/4 lime per serving)

Instructions

  1. Place all the ingredients (except fish) into a medium pot.
  2. Bring to boil and simmer until the squash is cooked through.
  3. Add fish and simmer for another 5-7 minutes or until fish is cooked.
  4. Another option here is to pre-cook the squash, since of all the ingredients it takes the longest to cook through. If you do that, you can add all the ingredients to the pot at the same time as it won't take as long for the squash to cook.
  5. Ladle soup into bowls.
  6. Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime on the side.
  7. Enjoy!
https://leanlena.com/recipe-coconut-milk-kale-and-steelhead-trout-soup/

Food Highlights: Crockpot the Saviour, Salad-a-Day and more

Hey guys! Happy Hump Day!

It’s downhill from now on – Friday is almost here, so hang in there!

How about I tell you of my food highlights of the past couple week as part of my “What’s on my Plate Wednesday” blog series?

Here’s the deliciousness I’ve had!

Breakfast

I am still a big fan of oatmeal with my 1000 ideas of what to top it with. Remember my post about 15 ways to eat your oats? Well, I keep adding on to those ways pretty much every morning 🙂

Oatmeal with marshmallows, raisins and cinnamon chips

Oatmeal with marshmallows, raisins and cinnamon chips

Been a huge fan of oatmeal + marshmallows combination!

I also enjoyed some savory breakfasts with added protein and fats.

Hardboiled eggs, capers, wheat berries and a cheese cookie

Hardboiled eggs, ranch, capers, wheat berries and a cheese cookie

Egg sandwich with black forest ham and cheese on an English muffin

Egg sandwich with black forest ham and cheese on an English muffin

Lunches

I have committed to eating one salad a day! It is not a streak, or a challenge or any other group activity of any sorts – just my personal commitment 🙂 So I have been pretty much eating salads for lunch in the past couple weeks (with a few exceptions where leftovers from dinner were just too tempting).

Baby spinach, sweet potato, organic chicken breast meat, black beans, leeks, hardboiled eggs, quinoa

Baby spinach, sweet potato, organic chicken breast meat, black beans, leeks, hardboiled eggs, quinoa

Baby spinach, quinoa, sweet potato, avocado, hardboiled eggs

Baby spinach, quinoa, sweet potato, avocado, hardboiled eggs

Baby spinach, canned beets, feta, sliced almonds

Baby spinach, canned beets, feta, sliced almonds

Dinners

It’s been a very busy few weeks – both for me and Mr. H. – at home, at work, in life in general. Trying to eat healthy with a busy schedule can be quite difficult and with the general stress of this kind of schedule the failure to eat healthy is even more upsetting and discouraging.

That is exactly the moment where my crockpot comes into play making healthy and nutritious food while I am at work 🙂

My all-time favorite - crock pot split pea soup with smoked ham

My all-time favorite – crock pot split pea soup with smoked ham

Crockpot chicken with stir-fried veggies

Crockpot chicken with stir-fried veggies

If we have more time in the evening, we might throw something on the grill:

Like these pork chops with kale and quinoa salad on the side

Like these pork chops with kale and quinoa salad on the side

And…then, of course there are times where my best intentions collide with my husband’s appetite 🙂 Like last Friday, I made a wonderfully healthy pizza with whole grain crust, mushrooms, olives, meat and leaks…

Looks great, right?

Looks great, right?

and then Mister Husband made me dump half a bag of mozzarella on top of this goodness and we ended up eating this:

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Oh well, life happens 🙂 I just love my husband and mozzarella too much 🙂

That pretty much sums it up, guys!

What was the best food you ate lately?

Apple-Eggnog Baked Oatmeal

Hi guys! Tasty Tuesday here!

So, you have definitely noticed by now that I am a big fan of oatmeal 🙂 I love it and can think of 15 ways to eat my oats!

But I also keep coming up with new ways for you and me to enjoy oatmeal!

Last weekend I got inspired by the season and came up with a recipe of Apple-Eggnog baked oatmeal. It turned out so well my husband said it was the best yet! Give it a try while we still have fresh apples and eggnog on the store shelves at the same time.

For this recipe I didn’t use fresh apples, though – just because I still had leftover dehydrated apples that Noah sent me as part of the Foodie Penpals box exchange.

Apple-Eggnog Baked Oatmeal

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Yield: 9 servings

Serving Size: 1 serving

Calories per serving: 189

4 g

Apple-Eggnog Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 3 cups dry oats (I used Giant old fashioned oats)
  • 1 cup eggnog
  • 1 very ripe banana, mashed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cup dehydrated or fresh apples, cubed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Mix dry ingredients until well combined.
  3. Combine liquid ingredients in a separate bowl.
  4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry.
  5. Mix well.
  6. Spray a pan with a non-stick spray.
  7. Pour the mix into the pan.
  8. Bake for 45-60 minutes.
  9. Enjoy!
https://leanlena.com/apple-eggnog-baked-oatmeal/

Have a great rest of your week, guys and eat healthy!

 

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Hey, guys! Happy Saturday!

I am a snacking person, and snacks are a very important part of my daily meal plan. The only problem is – if I don’t watch it, my snacking gets out of control and I just eat all the unhealthy crap I can get my hands onto! To avoid this, I do a few things:

– I plan my snacks for the day.

– I ALWAYS have a snack with me when I leave the house.

– I make sure I have healthy snacks.

I wanted to share one of my go-to recipes for a healthy snack with you today. These guys come together in under half an hour and are very delicious!

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 14 bites

Serving Size: 1 bite

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 1 ripe banana, mashed
  • 1 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned)
  • 1/4 cup chia seeds
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • Cocoa powder for rolling

Instructions

  1. Melt peanut butter and honey in a microwave. It melts very quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on it.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
  3. Add peanut butter and honey mix to the dry mix.
  4. Add mashed banana.
  5. Combine well.
  6. Roll into balls and roll them in cocoa powder.
  7. Refrigerate for minimum of 2 hours before eating.
https://leanlena.com/peanut-butter-banana-energy-bites/

 

Rice and Kale Frittata

Hey guys! Me again.

I hope you weekend is going great!

Just remembered that I promised you a recipe for my Rice and Kale Frittata and never posted it! Guilty…

So here you go! This is an excellent breakfast (make the night before, refrigerate, microwave in the morning, eat) or lunch!

You can bake it in the oven if you have some extra time, or fry it in a covered pan.

Rice and Kale Frittata

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Rice and Kale Frittata

Ingredients

  • 1 cup jasmine rice, cooked
  • 1 cup kale leaves, chopped
  • 1/2 cup almond milk, unsweetened
  • 3 eggs
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Cook rice according to package instruction and let it cool down.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 F
  3. Chop the kale
  4. Mix rice, kale, almond milk and eggs
  5. Spray a small dish with cooking spray
  6. Pour the mix into the dish and bake for 30 minutes or until baked through.
  7. Enjoy!
https://leanlena.com/rice-and-kale-frittata/

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay fit!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Muffins Recipe

Hey, guys! How is your week going?

Mine is hectic and busy, but I live in the hope for Friday, which is right around the corner!

Anyway, just wanted to share a great recipe with you today.

I have found the original recipe over at My Whole Food Life and modified it a little. If you like simple healthy recipes, be sure to check out this blog. Melissa has a ton o those for you!

Now let’s take a look at how to make these super delicious and easy pumpkin muffin!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Muffins

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 9 muffins

Serving Size: 1 muffin

Calories per serving: 125

4.1

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 cups quick oats
  • 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup or raw honey
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 tsp cloves
  • 2 T apple sauce
  • 4 T almond milk
  • 1 ripe banana, mashed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
  3. Mix wet in another.
  4. Add wet to dry and mix until wel combined.
  5. Spoon batter into lined muffin pan.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes.
  7. Take out of the oven and let cool on a rack.
  8. Enjoy!
https://leanlena.com/pumpkin-pie-oatmeal-muffins-recipe/

Stay fit, friends!