Cauliflower Biscuits

If you are like me and my family, sometimes getting in your daily dose of veggies can be a chore! So I am always looking for delicious ways to sneak them into my diet! And this recipe was a WINNER in my house! Evan and Lila devoured it. Drew didn't care for it, he likes cauliflower raw, but didn't care for the texture of this. But 2 out of 3, whoohoo! And even Paul gobbled them up! They don't remind me of biscuits however, more of a mini quiche that is crustless. But delicious nonetheless!

1 head of cauliflower

3 garlic cloves

1/3 cup of greek yogurt

2 eggs and 2 egg whites

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup of grated cheddar cheese

Steam the head of cauliflower (removed stem and leaves) in microwave safe dish with a little bit of water, cover, microwave for about 10 minutes or until very tender. Puree in food processor after done steaming, with the garlic. In a separate bowl, mix whole eggs (not egg whites), yogurt, cheese and salt and pepper. Dump in cauliflower mixture and stir. In another small bowl use a hand beater to whip egg whites until stiff. Fold egg whites into cauliflower mixture. Spray muffin tins with pam spray, fill with mixture about 2/3 way full. Bake at 400 degrees for appr 25 min or until edges start to get golden brown. Makes about 18!  Serving size is about 3 muffins, which would be not even ¼ blue, or a ¼, but probably almost 1 whole green. ENJOY!!!

Pineapple Mango Salsa

This is SUMMER in a bowl!!! I love this stuff! I top it on my fish or shrimp tacos with a dollop of plain greek yogurt! I top it on grilled chicken or tilapia! I actually would put it on a bed of greens and add a little grilled chicken or shrimp! It's so fresh and colorful, sweet and a little spicy! I hope you enjoy!

Ginger Garlic Flank Steak with Shirataki Noodles

So this dish doesn't photograph particularly well, but it was DELISH!

Flank steak
Seasoning: garlic powder, onion powder, pink Himalayan salt, cumin.
1 yellow onion, diced
1 bulb of garlic, diced
1-2 teaspoon of fresh garlic minced
1 bag of broccoli slaw
1 bag of frozen edamame, shelled
2 bags of Shiraki noodles
low sodium soy sauce

I season the flank steak with seasonings mentioned above, and then drizzle a little soy sauce on it, making sure to season each side generously. Then I grill it for 4-5 minutes on each side, to desired doneness. I let it sit for about 10 minutes then I cut AGAINST the grain! This will make sure that your meat is nice and tender!

Meanwhile, I saute up some onion, garlic, and ginger in a little bit of EVOO on low heat. And I try desperately not to burn my garlic which I tend to do way more often than I like to admit!  After they are all nice and golden brown and softened up, I add a bag of frozen edamame, and a bag of brocolli slaw. I saute them until they are nice and soft. I rinse the shiratki noodles in hot water, no need to cook them. These are made from a root veggie and actually found in the produce section of the store, usually! I turn off the heat, and throw in the noodles and the steak... BOOM. Done.

I always like to say how I make a meal kid friendly. Most of my meals my kids will eat as is. I try and NOT make a habit of being a short order chef. But sometimes, it is unavoidable! My kids won't eat this dish, well at least 2 out of 3 of them. So I just whip up some brown rice, and serve it with the flank steak. I also put aside of the edamame, before throwing it all in the pan and cook that up and serve it along side the rice and steak!

Give it a try! Would also be good with Zoodles! Or brown rice, actually! The original recipe I pinned from pinterest called for Ramen noodles.... But I like these shiraki noodles much better, and they are sooo much healthier anyway!

BUFFALO CHICKEN PIZZA

Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion
EVOO
Shredded cooked chicken breast (rotisserie is great, or you can slow cook some chicken in a crock pot and shred) I used about 2-3 breasts worth
Texas Pete 1 tablespoon and then more for drizzling on top
1/2 can of low sodium black beans
1 whole grain pizza flat out
1 red container of plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)
Crumbled blue cheese, 1/2 blue container
1 bunch of cilantro chopped
4 stalks of celery chopped


Sauté some onions in a dollop oil. Add shredded chicken breast. I get the kind at Costco that is already shredded, rotisserie, just white meat! But you can shred up a rotisserie chicken! Then I add a half a can of black beans (low sodium) and a tablespoon or so of Texas Pete. Meanwhile I bake a whole grain pizza flat out at 375 for 3-4 min. Then I add mozzarella (3/4 blue container for each flat out if u r following the fix), then add chicken mixture and bake at 375 for another 5 min. Meanwhile I mix a red container of plain Greek yogurt with half of a container of blue cheese. I chop up some cilantro and celery really fine. When the pizzas are done I drizzle with the yogurt mixture, top with celery and cilantro, and drizzle a tiny bit more Texas Pete. OMG! So good! One serving is one flat out pizza!

21 day fix Lasagna

1.5 lbs of ground turkey, chicken or lean 93% ground beef

1 tablespoon of EVOO

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles

1 yellow onion

2-3 garlic cloves

1 24 oz jar of Marinara sauce (just make sure the ingredeints are all recognizable and the sodium and sugar added is minimal

1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes

I usually add 1 16 oz can of tomato sauce too and a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste, just to up the tomato-ey taste!

Pink Himalayan salt, pepper to taste

½ tbsp. of Oregano

16 oz Cottage cheese (or you can do skim milk ricotta cheese)

1 egg (optional, I add an egg to my cottage cheese to boost the flavor and make it a nice texture, but it’s not really necessary, I have done it without too and it’s totally good!)

6 blue containers (or 2 cups) of grated mozzarella cheese            

1 bag of fresh spinach, frozen would be fine too just drain all the moisture out

Freshly grated parmesan cheese, and little more oregano to sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, lightly spray a large 13 x 9 baking dish with non stick spray

Start by browning some onions and garlic in some olive oil over low heat. DON’T burn the garlic, I always do that! Once they are nice and carmelized, I add in the meat and brown that. Once it’s cook all the way through, I drain the fat. Meanwhile I boil the whole wheat lasagna noodles, per box directions. Then I drain and lay out on foil so they don’t stick to each other. I add the marinara, tomatoes, tomato sauce and or tomato paste, depending on how thick or thin you like your meat sauce, to the meat and onion mixture. I add salt and pepper to taste, and oregano. I let it simmer for a while, usually 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. In a separate bowl I mix together 16 oz of cottage cheese, with 1 egg and a dash of oregano to make it pretty! Then I start layering everything together!

I start with a layer of meat sauce, then I place three noodles, the ones I got were so long they covered the whole length of my baking dish! Then I spread on some of the cottage cheese mixture, lay a layer of spinach, add two containers of the mozzarella, then spread some more meat sauce. And then add another layer of noodles and repeat above! I usually can fit in 3 layers. End with cheese! I sprinkle on a just a tad of parmesan and oregano! I swish around a little water in the bottom of the marinara sauce, Sorry, go fetch it out of the recycle bin if you already tossed it! Then I pour that in the corners of the baking dish. This will keep it all super moist and keep it from drying out! Then I bake covered with foil for 15 minutes, the last 10 minutes I take off the foil. Boom, dinner is done! Add a salad and you are ready to go!

21 day fix containers are just approximate! I did the best I could measuring them out!

This will serve ATLEAST 8, probably 10!

I count each serving as 3/4 blue, 1 yellow, 3/4 purple, 1 red and 1/2 green.  If you aren’t sure how big of a portion to put on your plate, I always fill one and a half green containers (the biggest container of course!) I sometimes find I can’t eat that much, so if you just do one green container, just adjust the container count accordingly! 

White Chili

I stole this recipe from my brother years ago. And believe it or not, I have adapted it to make it EASIER! Now, I know any recipe when you dirty more than two pans is kind of a pain in the rear. But this one is worth it! I promise!

- 1.5 lbs of ground turkey (or chicken)
- 2 containers of mushrooms, I like the fancy shitake ones, but you can get any kind you fancy
- two cans of white canellini
- two little cans of mild green chiles
- one big yellow onion
- half a bulb of garlic (or more)
- 2 fresh serrano chiles
-  16 oz. (half a big box) of chicken or turkey stock...  I like kitchen 
basics...  just check and make sure the sodium content is low.
- a big glass (8-12 oz) of water
- olive oil
- monteray jack cheese
- a big bunch or two of cilantro

-plain greek yogurt

Spices: 2 tablespoons of cumin, sounds like a lot, but it’s a lot of meat! ½ tablespoon of ground coriander, 1-2 teaspoons of oregano, and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic (if you love garlic like I do)


I get both my dutch oven and another pan good and hot...  medium high heat...  
I put some olive oil in both...  break up the turkey into one...  put the 
mushrooms (cut into thirds) in the other...  turn down the one with the 
mushrooms a bit....  drizzle a little more olive oil over both...  salt and 
pepper both as I'm cooking I let the mushrooms cook down.

Once both are cooked, I turn the heat on the turkey down and dump the mushrooms in the dutch oven with the meat. Then I add in the turkey stock and get the empty pan hot again, add a little 
olive oil and saute the onion for a couple minutes.   Then add the garlic and chopped up serano peppers and saute a couple more minutes. Then I add the water to pan to get the delicious stuff off the bottom and then dump the whole thing into the pot.  Then I rinse the beans and add them, add the chopped green chilis,  add the oregano, cumin, minced garlic and ground coriander,  cover it and let is simmer for an hour or so, stirring occasionally. Then I serve it up, stir in a handful of chopped cilantro, and sprinkle a little 
monteray jack cheese and a dollop of plain greek yogurt, and sometimes some sliced avocado.  It's awesome!

Egg Stuffed Peppers

During the week, I am lucky if I have time to throw together a smoothie for me! If it takes more than about 3 minutes, it's not happening! But these are delicious for a weekend breakfast, for mornings when you may have company visiting! Or when you have breakfast for dinner and have a little more time. It's actually super easy, it just takes a bit to bake. But well worth the time if you have it!

Accountability Post!

Yes, I am still with the program! So every month or so I take pictures to keep myself accountable! I have officially lost 16 lbs and over 16 inches with simple portion control and 30 minute work out videos. But the secret to my success, is SHAKEOLOGY! And staying in an accountability group! Motivation only lasts for so long! You gotta stay accountable! It's the small things we do every single day that add up to be the huge successes. These things are easy to do! But also easy not to do!

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

These were pretty good! I was skeptical, I must say! I LOVE me some pancakes, waffles and french toast. But these definitely satisfied my sweet tooth this morning! I paired it with an egg for a little extra protein. Next time I am going to try blueberries!! Two of my three children approved it! Lila approves very little, and to be fair, she didn't even put a single bite in her mouth before she protested and threw it on the floor.