Breakfast smoothie

I've had a lot of questions about my breakfast smoothies.. So I thought I'd lay it all out here!! First things first.. I wanted the Nutribullet, but wasn't sure how much I'd actually use it. And it's expensive!!! So I found this blender at Walmart for around $20. So far it's been great but I do want the Nutribullet later!!! 

Everything I use is frozen so there is no need for ice! Here's what I use, I mixed it up a little and always add spinach. I use diet ocean spray because it's low in calories and sugars!! 

I buy all of these at Walmart or food lion. Just give it a shot and find out what works best for you!!! 

Campfire Chicken Recipe

Cracker Barrel had an amazing Camp Fire Chicken on their menu for a limited time last year. I looked for a copy cat recipe but couldn't find one. So, I attempted it myself and it was amazing!!

I made individual pouches just like they did so that I could leave a few things out of the kids' dinner. (They are picky) 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

To make the pouches I used the large/wide roll of aluminum foil.

Place 1 chicken breast in the bottom of the foil pouch

Then add

2 small corn on the cob

Baby red potatoes

Baby carrots

Onion

Whole peeled tomatoes

Salt pepper and thyme to taste

Chicken broth 

Add the amount right for you and your family. I added enough to eat on for 2 days which turned out perfectly! 

Close it up well, place on a baking sheet, and bake (depending on how you like your vegetables) 3-5 hours! 

Before

After

Baked Apple Chips

Baked Apple Cinnamon Chips

Ingredients 2 large red apples 2 teaspoons of cinnamon Optional: 1 teaspoon sugar

Directions Preheat oven to 200 F. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Arrange the apple slices in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 1 1/2 – 2 hours, or until the apples are dry and crispy. Remove from oven and let cool.

Baked chicken, corn, and potatoes

4 potatoes diced

1 onion diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 chicken breast cubed

6 frozen corn on the cob

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chicken broth

Add all ingredients in a baking dish

Cover with aluminum foil

Bake at 400 degrees

1 1/2 hours

           Before                   After 

Chicken Philly Cheese Wrap

Ok so I'm no professional here when it comes to recipes.. I rarely measure anything I just know how much I need to fix to feed my family so I just do it lol.. But I shall try!!

First off I had no idea they had healthier options for the wraps, I found some 90 calorie wraps at food lion. So that's what I bought! 

Slice 4 chicken breast into strips

Salt and pepper to taste

Brown them in a pan with olive oil

Slice 

2 green peppers

1onion

Sauté in a separate pan

Add chicken, white american cheese, green peppers and onion to the wrap and enjoy!!

 As I side I fixed refried beans, just a suggestion!

Baked chicken and roasted potatoes

I sometimes get a little bored of the same food! The past few nights I've been trying new things! Here's a recipe from a few nights ago! 

Baked Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• generous ½ cup of plain low-fat greek yogurt
• generous 3 tbs of grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp. finely chopped garlic (fresh)
• 1 tsp. finely chopped onion (fresh)
• a good pinch of salt & pepper
• 1 tsp. dried italian herbs (salt free)

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 375
2. Place chicken breast in a large resealable bag or between sheets of wax paper and give them a good whack with the bottom of a pan or a rolling pin. Alternately, if they are coming out of the freezer and are still a bit icy, you could butterfly the breasts (and adjust the cooking time accordingly)
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl - taste it, you'll melt!
4. I took each of my pieces of chicken and pulled them through the yogurt coating on either side. You could just dump it in the ziplock but I really wanted to keep as much of the coating as I could!
5. Place chicken breasts on a foil lined cookie sheet (so they aren't touching)
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes
7. Turn broil to high for about 2 minutes before I took them out so they got nice and toasty on the top.

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds red potatoes, quartered
• 1.5 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• ½ teaspoons garlic Powder
• Salt - to taste
• ½ teaspoon of pepper
• 1.5 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir.
3. Bake uncovered for about 40 minutes or till golden brown.
4. Enjoy!

Protein Mocha Frapp

What? How have I never thought of this?!? If you know me then you know I can't say no to coffee. I've been wanting to add some protein into my diet.. What better way than add it to my morning coffee?? 

Mix in a blender

1 cup ice

1 cup milk (any kind will do)

2 scoops chocolate whey protein

2 tsp instant coffee

(Optional sugar or anything you'd like to sweeten it up I added a bit of flavored creamer!)

Blend and enjoy!!! 

Snow Cream Recipe

It's snowing like crazy here so I thought I'd share my recipe for snow cream!!!

2 ½ quarts clean snow
½ c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup sugar

Mix together

Feel free to add your favorite toppings!!!

Caramel Macchiato Starbucks copycat recipe

2 tablespoons vanilla syrup (recipe follows)

1/2 cup fresh espresso
1 cup milk
3 – 4 tablespoons caramel sauce (I used the same jarred caramel sauce that is sold as an ice cream topping)

Vanilla syrup:

2 cups water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. To make the vanilla syrup, combine sugar and water in a sauce pan. Bring to boil over high heat and boil for 5 minutes. Let cool and add vanilla extract. Stir well and keep in a sealed container, refrigerated.

2. To make coffee, either use an espresso machine to make coffee and steam milk, or heat milk until hot, but not boiling on stove-top and transfer to a blender. Blend until frothy. For espresso, if you don’t have a machine, just make double strength coffee.

3. Add vanilla syrup, espresso or strong coffee and hot milk to mug. Add caramel sauce and serve. I add whip cream to mine =]

Gingerbread Latte

First, here's the recipe for the syrup! Once you've made it you can keep it in the fridge for more lattes!!

2 cups water

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bring all ingredients to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 mins, remove from heat!

1 cup steamed (or microwaved) milk of your choice

1/2 cup espresso (strong coffee)

1/4 cup gingerbread syrup

Stir well!

Add sweeter to your liking

Optional- top with whip cream, cinnamon, & ginger!!  

Cinnamon Dolce Latte Recipe

Bring 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cane sugar

1 cup water to a boil

 Stir making sure all sugar has resolved, remove from heat. Add 1 tablespoon cinnamon, stir ( cinnamon won't desolve)

Set aside

Microwave  1- 1 1/2 cups milk til hot (be careful it will boil over!! 

Make a shot if espresso! Here's how I did it but you can google other ways!

Boil 1/4 cup water and add 2 table spoons instant coffee!

Add 1-2 tablespoons cinnamon dolce syrup to hot milk and stir in shot of espresso! Top with whip cream and cinnamon!!!

May need to add sweetener depending on how you like your coffe!!! Enjoy!!!!

Don't forget to put the rest of the cinnamon dolce syrup in the fridge for more coffee!!!

Grilled Chicken Wrap

This is NOT a Mrs. Dash recipe.. But its low in sodium and very delish!
First I grilled our chicken strips on the George Foreman Grill..
While they were grilling I took some Kraft Peppered Mayo (made with olive oil) and spread about 2 tsps. on to a wheat wrap.
When the chicken was finished I added - lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and diced green peppers along with the chicken and shredded cheese!
It's very simple and could be altered any way you like it!

Chili Con Carne Soup

This Chili was amazing.. And perfect for the rainy day we had yesterday!! Some of the ingredients were hard to come by.. But I was SUPER excited to find no sodium chicken and beef bouillon cubes!!! I also wanted to share the low sodium salad dressing I found.. The Salad spritzers by Wish Bone, which are also low calorie, have been the lowest sodium dressing I've found so far!!

Oh.. And I've lost 4lbs =]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS

• Low-Sodium

Summary

• Serves:16
• Serving Size:9.4 oz (266.8g)
• Prep Time:10 min
• Cooking Time:1 hrs, 10 min - 1 hrs, 11 min
• Ready In:1 hrs, 21 min

Ingredients

• Chili Con Carne Soup
• 2 Tbsp (30mL) Mrs. Dash® Extra Spicy Seasoning Blend
• 1 Tbsp ( 25mL) vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 lb. (454g) lean ground beef
• 3 - 15 oz (420mL) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 - 28 oz (784mL) cans chopped plum tomatoes, no salt added
• 4 cups (960mL) low sodium chicken stock
• 1 oz (28g) square dark chocolate
• Optional Garnishes
• grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, nachos

Directions

• 1. Add oil to large saucepan and heat. Add onion and cook until soft.
• 2. Add ground beef, increase heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the meat is no longer pink.
• 3. Stir in beans, tomatoes, stock, Mrs. Dash® Extra Spicy Seasoning Blend and chocolate. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer gently for 1 hour.
• 4. Ladle into mugs or large cups and garnish as desired.

Nutrition Facts

Serv. Size 9.4 oz (266.8g)

Servings: 16

Amount/Serving
Calories	194
Total Fat	5g
Trans Fat	0g
Sodium	61mg
Potassium	674mg
Total Carb.	24g
Protein	15g

All American Burger and Potato Wedges

Usually when I make burgers I add onion soup to them. 1 pack of onion soup has a whopping 690mgs of sodium! Wow.. Didn't realize what I was putting into my body! I added tomato and lettuce to my burgers. They tasted great!!! I wanted to salt the potato wedges so bad! They had a great flavor my taste buds have just not gotten used to not having salt on EVERYTHING!

Potato Wedges -

 

HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS

• Low-Sodium

Summary

• Serves:8
• Serving Size:6 potato pieces
• Prep Time:5 min
• Cooking Time:40 min
• Ready In:45 min

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. (22.5mL) Mrs. Dash® Original Blend, divided
• 12 small red potatoes cut into wedges
• 1 Tbsp. (15mL) olive oil

Directions

• 1. Toss potatoes with olive oil and 1 Tbsp. (15mL) Mrs. Dash® Original Blend in a bowl.
• 2. Roast in a preheated 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 minutes.
• 3. Increase heat to 450°F (220°C). Sprinkle with remaining Mrs. Dash® Original Blend and continue to roast for 5 - 10 minutes or until tender and browned.

Nutrition Facts

Serv. Size 6 potato pieces

Servings: 8

Amount/Serving
Calories	193
Total Fat	4g
Trans Fat	0g
Sodium	14mg
Potassium	1032mg
Total Carb.	36g
Protein	4g

All American Burger-

HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS

• Low-Carb, Low-Potassium, Low-Sodium

Summary

• Serves:4
• Prep Time:10 min
• Cooking Time:9 min - 10 min
• Ready In:20 min

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. Mrs. Dash® Original Blend
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1/4 onion, diced finely
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped fine
• cooking spray

Directions

• 1. Heat a grill or cast iron grill plate to medium. Spray with cooking spray.
• 2. Toss all ingredients in bowl.
• 3. Form into 6 oz. patties.
• 4. Grill to desired degree of doneness.

Nutrition Facts

Servings: 4

Amount/Serving
Calories	235
Total Fat	15g
Trans Fat	1g
Sodium	64mg
Potassium	335mg
Total Carb.	1g
Protein	22g