Hiya lovely reader! I hope you are doing fabulous! I've been experiencing about two weeks of constant rain and it is starting to kill my summertime vibes. (I know for some people across the world, rain is a constant, so props to you all, I'd like to think it's more tolerable in some places) Anyway, being stuck inside has allowed me to get a lot of things done, many of which I will be sharing in upcoming posts. For today I wanted to share a great recipe I stumbled upon once again on Popsugar Fitness. Now as you may know if you follow my blog, I have been trying to find healthy recipes that offer a delicious alternative to sometimes not so healthy dishes. So with that being said, I am going to share a recipe today that is a lot lower in calories as well as fat. (who wouldn't want that) If I'm being honest, up until this last year, I never really gave guacamole a shot, don't know why but I never wished to try it or eat anything that contained it. Man was I missing out! Now I am quite the fan of some good guac. My new found love is also a bit saddening because my best friend always claimed she could make quite the guacamole, but of course now that I am a connoisseur, she no longer lives near me. Life. (insert sad and longing face here) But the show must go on! So grab your pita or chips or whatever you like to eat with guacamole and let's begin!
(the original recipe on the Popsugar Fitness website, says that it yields about 3 cups, I did half a recipe and still ended up with more than 1 1/2 cups, so the amount of each ingredient is based on the amount I made)
Ingredients
1 1/2 Medium Avocados
1 Cup of Nonfat Greek Yogurt
1 Tablespoon of Lime Juice
1/8 teaspoon of Lime Zest
1 Minced Clove of Garlic
1/3 Cup of Diced Red Onion
1/3 Cup of Diced Roma Tomatoes (I added a little bit more at the end for color and flavor)
1/2 teaspoon of Chopped Jalapeños (I ended up adding a full teaspoon)
1/2 Tablespoon of Minced Cilantro
Dash of Salt
First you are going to want to slice your avocado and scoop out the inside. The video below is great if you are unsure of how to do so!
Next combine the flesh from the avocado with the greek yogurt and mash together.
Then add the lime juice, lime zest, and minced garlic to the bowl and mix well.
Next add the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and jalapeño and mix well.
Give it a taste to see if you'd like to add more of any ingredient, I threw in some more tomato and a dash of salt.
Hello lovely reader! It's almost Friday!! Seeing as summer is basically upon us, I know many people want to eat healthy and be active, maybe make good on those New Years resolutions that have been sitting on a shelf for the past few months. So, if you're on that boat, then I'm sailing right along with you. While I was away at school, I made a conscious effort to eat healthy and be active (no freshman fifteen was going to come anywhere near me). Granted walking around campus everyday rather than driving everywhere makes quite a difference as well. Now that I am home though, I'm not walking everywhere, so I am making an extra special effort to remain as active as I was before as well as be aware of what I am eating. Throughout the year I had been saving recipes from various blogs, that sounded tasty and were also rather healthy, so I thought it would be nice to share my current three favorite dishes with you. I have made and liked all of them (I am not just going to throw things out there unless I like them). Hopefully you will too and we can make this a regular thing, I know I love trying new recipes especially ones that create healthier options when deciding what to eat. Enjoy!
This first recipes comes from the "Fitness Magazine" website. It is a Baja Style Chicken Bowl. This dish is extremely simple, quick, and customizable. For me, I like to use brown rice, chicken, corn, black beans, shredded cheddar jack cheese, and salsa. I find that it is satisfying as well as filling.
Baja Style Chicken Bowl -Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat -Sauté 1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper, 1/4 cup frozen corn, 1/4 cup black beans, and 2 ounces diced cooked chicken 5 minutes -Season with salt and pepper to taste -Spoon chicken mixture over 1/2 cup cooked brown rice and top with 1/4 cup salsa and 2 tablespoons shredded Monterey Jack
This recipe has been my favorite of the three. It is a Grilled Tex-Mex Chicken and Quinoa Wrap and it is delicious! Guacamole, chicken, quinoa, and salsa...yes! I combine all the ingredients, put it in my panini maker and away we go. I found it on the blog "Half-baked Harvest" which has loads of different recipes. Quinoa is a great substitute for rice and I have found that you can get it at around the same price.
(This recipe is for 4 wraps)
Wraps
4 whole wheat tortillas
1 pound boneless chicken breast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 red pepper, sliced thin
2 cups spinach
1 avocado, sliced
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
Spicy Tex Mex Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chipotle in adobo
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 lime, juiced
pinch of salt + pepper
Preheat your grill to medium high heat.
In a medium size bowl combine the chicken, olive oil and taco seasoning. Toss well. When the grill is hot, grill the chicken for 6 to 7 minutes per side or until cooked through. Remove from the grill and allow to rest five minutes. After five minutes slice the chicken into strips. Set aside.
To assemble the wraps create and assembly line of ingredients (spinach, quinoa, spicy Tex-Mex sauce, sliced chicken, sliced red pepper, sliced avocado, cheddar cheese and cilantro). Warm the tortillas in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds. Working with one tortilla at a time lay the spinach towards one end of the tortilla, place about 1/4 cup of the quinoa on top of the spinach and then drizzle a few tablespoons of the Tex-Mex sauce over the quinoa. Layer 1/4 of the sliced chicken on top and the add a few slices of the red pepper and avocado. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and add a few fresh cilantro leaves.
To roll the wrap, fold the sides over the line of food and then roll the tortilla tightly up. Place the wraps directly on the preheated grill and grill for two minutes and then turn ad grill the other side for two minutes. Remove from the grill and if desired cut in half. Serve with remaining sauce.
To make the sauce combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Season to taste. Use in the wraps and then serve with the wraps for dipping.
Last but not least is this Cauliflower Crust Pizza, which I found on "POPSUGAR Fitness". The trick to this pizza is that the crust if made from cauliflower, which cuts the amount of carbs significantly! If you prefer a crispier crust make sure to pat the dough very thin, that was the only issue I had when making mine, but it still tasted great!
Nonstick spray 2 1/2 cups cauliflower, grated (about 1/2 a large head) 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1 1/4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup tomato sauce 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half 2 cloves garlic, sliced 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes Fresh basil leaves, optional
Directions
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat oven to 425ºF.
Grate the cauliflower using a box grater until you have two cups of cauliflower crumbles. Place in a large bowl and microwave for seven to eight minutes, or until soft. Remove from the microwave and let cool.
Mix in the egg, one cup mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. Once combined, pat into a 10-inch round on the prepared pizza pan. Spray lightly with nonstick spray and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden.
Top the pizza with the sauce, 1/4 cup mozzarella, grape tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Bake in the oven until melted and bubbly, another 10 minutes. Top with basil before serving.
Are there any healthier recipes that you are loving? If you give any of these a try, I'd love to see! Feel free to link in the comments or tweet me @NEPlainJane Xx
Hiya lovely reader! Are you ready for this week? Christmas is coming soon!! As you can probably tell from the title I did some more baking for the Christmas party! Making gingerbread cookies has become a tradition. So here's some pics to get your tastebuds going, I wish you could smell the house because it literally smelled like cookies for two days straight!
Have you made any gingerbread cookies this year? Xx
Hello everyone! For this post I'm going to share one of my favorite cookies recipes. I first saw these cookies in a video by Tanya Burr. I thought they looked delicious so I searched the web to find the actual recipe. It turns out they are based off of Ben's Cookies. There were a few different versions of the recipe so I'm going to give you the one that seemed to work the best for me. The measurements may seem a bit random but that's because I converted them from grams to teaspoons (tsp) and tablespoons (T). Hope you give these a go and enjoy them as much as I do!
Ingredients: (Makes about 16 cookies)
-14T butter
-1 1/3 cup baker's sugar
-1 egg
-1 1/4 cup self-rising flour
-5T 1 1/2 tsp cocoa
-1 splash of milk
-3 chocolate bars
First place softened butter into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix the two until it is creamy.
Then add one egg and mix well. Next, gradually add the flour and mix after each addition. Add the cocoa, also mixing well after each addition. Pour a splash of milk into the dough and mix.
Now for the chocolate bars! Break them into bite size pieces and fold them into the dough. I wouldn't recommend mixing them in because then it breaks up the chocolate and you won't have the gooey chunks to bite into after they have been baked:)
After folding in the chocolate, you can use a scoop, a spoon, or your hand to make balls of dough a little larger than a golf ball (obviously you can make them bigger depending on how large you would like them) and place them on foil covered tins. The cookies tend to spread so make sure to leave space between them!
Place them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. I find that they are done at around 11 minutes.
When you take them out, they will appear not done but let them sit for 2 minutes before removing them from the trays and they will be done. Now all that's left is to enjoy these delicious cookies!
