Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Lasagna Roll Ups

Its been a long day. Wednesdays are always hard around here. Does anyone else feel that way? Anyway, about 4pm my kids started screaming and demanding food. I was excited for dinner tonight because these lasagna roll ups are divine! They turned out even better than the first time for some reason, but I forgot to get bread at the store. I guess less carbs, right? So lasagna roll ups and salad for dinner tonight! These really are amazing
If you're on the 21 day fix 2 of these rolls equals out 1 Red, 1 Purple, 1 Yellow, 1 Blue, 1 Green


Ingredients:
9 Cooked Lasagna Noodles
1.5 Cups Fresh Baby Spinach
2 Cups Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Parmesan Cheese
1 egg
1/2 Teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound Ground Turkey Cooked
Spaghetti Sauce
1 Cup Mozzarella Shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Cook Lasagna Noodles according to package instructions. Put ground turkey on skillet and add salt and pepper to taste. Crumble and cook until all pink has cooked out. Set aside.
2. Mix Ricotta Cheese, spinach, parmesan cheese, egg, garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt in bowl. Add in ground turkey. Set aside.
3. In a baking dish, place 1 cup of pasta sauce around the bottom of the dish. Spread evenly.
4. Lay a piece of wax paper on your counter, place lasagna noodles on paper and dab with paper towel to make sure all moisture is gone.
5. Spread cheese mixture evenly over each piece of lasagna. Begin rolling one strip of lasagna at one end and roll all the way up. Place in baking dish seam side down. Continue process with all lasagna pieces.
6. Top lasagna rolls with sauce and mozzarella cheese. Place aluminum foil over dish tightly and place in preheated oven. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve immediately.


NOTE: My cheese grater was in the dirty dishes, so I may have just taken nice slices of mozzarella cheese and put them on top... ya know..I had to work with what I had ;) Also, I didn't realize until I started dinner I didn't have any ground turkey left over, so no meat was put into these this time and they still tasted truly amazing! One final note, because there was no meat I wanted to make sure these had some kind of "kick" to them (I don't like bland stuff) so I threw in a dash of crushed red pepper and it was quite delicious. Make this recipe your own! What would you switch up about it? Let me know in the comments!

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Delicious Roast

My family is filled with serious meat eaters. My husband and I grew up with a roast every Sunday and so I knew I had to carry on the tradition once we got married. While some Sundays I switch it up just to keep everyone on their toes, I do really love a good juicy roast at the end of a long Sunday day.
My husband says the roast is the best he's ever had...maybe he's just trying to keep me on his good side. Try it out and tell me what you think! (PS...when I took this photo the filter was on and I didn't realize until long after dinner was done and I can't take the filter off since it's technically the "original" so don't be weirded out that the color is a little bit off haha.)

Sunday Roast
1 Roast (Around 2 pounds for this recipe, adjust the recipe as needed)
1 tsp Fresh Minced Garlic
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1 White Onion Sliced (cut this any way you would like. I like to do onion ring type slices so they are easy to pull off because my kids won't eat onions).


1. Do you have a crockpot? Good. That thing should be your best friend! Besides your spouse...sibling...parent...legitimate best friend...etc. Place the roast in the crock pot and add about an inch of water to the pot, this doesn't have to be exact so don't stress it! Sprinkle seasonings on top of roast evenly, add garlic on top of the roast, and top the whole thing with the onion slices.
2. Cook in crock pot for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. I like to let mine cook until it's practically falling apart.

Note: If you want to do crock pot carrots or potatoes add carrots around the roast in the crock pot 2-3 hours before roast is done. If you want to do potatoes quarter them and add them around roast about 2 hours before roast is done. In this picture we had a basic steamed cauliflower and I did mashed potatoes to please the children. Whats your favorite way to cook a roast? Let me know in the comments!

Zucchini Bread

I LOVE CARBS! Do you know what else I love? Farmers Markets. Completely unrelated? I know. Stay with me here. Me and a friend walked down to the farmers market on Friday and found a whole variety of yummy fresh fruits and vegetables. I loaded up and walked home proud. One of my greatest finds? A zucchini the size of a newborn baby for only $1!!! (Some argue that smaller zucchinis actually taste better, but my motto is "the bigger the better".....at least as far as food goes. Anyway, so I have this massive zucchini in my fridge and i'm coming up with all sorts of zucchini recipes. My latest? Delicious and (semi) healthy zucchini bread! Find the recipe below, and you're welcome! If you're on the 21 day fix I personally would equal one slice of bread (that does not mean half of the loaf, be reasonable here) to 1 yellow, 1 purple, 1 tsp.



Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread
1 Cup Zucchini
1/2 cup Applesauce
1/2 Cup honey
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon  baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
*1/2 nuts (optional)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl combine applesauce, honey, eggs, zucchini and vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add all dry ingredients to the mixture. *if you're adding nuts add them last.
3. Pour mixture into a greased 9" bread pan (or two mini pans) and bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes (watch closely if you leave it in for longer than 45 so you don't end up with burnt bread!)

Note: You can use oil instead of apple sauce, but that is going to make the bread more fatty, also I used honey but you could use regular sugar if you don't have honey on hand (I would recommend brown sugar if you're going to go this route). Also you can take this recipe and make it a carrot bread or even add sliced apples instead! The options are endless! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Egg Breakfast

I love breakfast....actually I really just love food and breakfast is the first chance of the day to get access to the food I love! Since switching to a healthier lifestyle and not eating as much sugar I haven't made yummy foods like pancakes, waffles, bacon, etc. So I've had to find a new favorite, and that favorite is the recipe you will find below. SO simple, I mean honestly if you can cook an egg you can have this delectable breakfast! My husband says it looks like something you would see an alien eating.......My husband is picky about food (sometimes worse than my 2 year old). Anyway, don't focus too much on the picture...just close your eyes and imagine the taste. It's good? You have no idea! Try it! You'll thank me! If you're doing the 21 day fix this equals up to 1 yellow, 1/2 blue, 1 red (note: this picture is only of one egg...but I normally have 2 which would equal up to one red container)

Open Faced Egg Breakfast Sandwich
2 Eggs
1 Piece Whole Wheat Toast
1 tbs Guacamole (or just plain avocado sprinkled with salt)

1. Whip out that frying pan and put it over medium heat. Spray the pan with your favorite cooking spray. Crack eggs onto pan. Did the yolk break? GREAT! If it didn't break the yolks with a fork and get them to spread over the white part of the egg (it's easier than it sounds, I promise). Season with salt and pepper. Flip eggs over and cook other side. 
2. Put your toast in the toaster and get it as crispy as you would like. When its done pull it out and spread the guacamole/avocado over the toast. Put eggs on top and enjoy this delicious, amazing, to die for breakfast sandwich! It also keep you full forever, so thats a bonus!

Note: You can put whatever you want on this! You can add cheese (which would pull it up to 1 full blue if you're doing 21 day fix), peppers, turkey bacon, etc. Whats your favorite variation? Let me know in the comments! 

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Asparagus Salad - 21 Day Fix

I had the BEST salad today. I'm a little tired of romaine and spinach and needed to mix it up. My mom sent me this recipe and I tweaked it a little bit to fit the 21 day fix measurements. This salad was so fresh and light but had so much great taste to it. My husband wouldn't touch it because "It had too much green in it." But even my 2 year old ate it and liked it! Make this some time this week and you will be thanking me! Check out the basic recipe below and then see my notes for some fun variations!
For the 21 day fix this recipe will take 1 Green 1 Orange 1/2 Blue
Asparagus Salad 
10 Spears Asparagus- Washed
Cucumber Slices (I used about 4 and chopped them up smaller)
Broccoli Florets (I used 4 florets)
1 tbs Feta Cheese
1/2 tbs Fresh or Dried Basil Leaves
1/4 Cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp Lemon Juice
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste


1. Boil 3 cups water in a pot. When water reaches a boil stick asparagus in for about 1 minute (you don't want to overcook this). When you pull out asparagus run it under cold water for another minute to stop the cooking process. Cut it into pieces and stick it in the fridge to help cool it down.

2. Mix olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper, and basil leaves in bowl. Set aside. Chop up other vegetables to preferred size (I like mine cut into super small bites). Add asparagus in with vegetables and then add cheese. Top with 1 orange container of the dressing. There will be plenty of dressing left over for you to make this salad another day if you would like. The vegetables equaled out 1 green container so I didn't have any vegetables left over, but I did have dressing. Enjoy!

Notes: This recipe is so versatile you could do so much with it. You can add or subtract any vegetables that you would like and swap out feta cheese for another cheese you love (feta is my cheese love right now). You can also add some avocado and equal the salad out to fill 1 whole blue.
Have you tried this salad? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought! I would also love to hear any variations you have tried or would like to try!