Cooking/Recipes

Hearty Make Ahead Breakfast Bowls

Posted on by Jama

I need a hearty breakfast, but I often find myself hangry and shovelling something unfortunate into my face-hole by the time the kids are up and ready to eat. Praise the Lord and Pinterest for this recipe.

Hearty Make Ahead Breakfast Bowls

INGREDIENTS
  • 2.5 lbs. red potatoes, cubed
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • pepper to taste
  • 6 large eggs
  • 6 large egg whites
  • Olive oil spray
  • 1½ cups salsa
  • 1 cup (or so) shredded cheddar cheese
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Cut red potatoes into 1 inch cubes.
  3. Put in a bowl, add 1 Tbsp olive oil and mix to cover well.
  4. Bake for 45 mins or until golden brown, stirring once.
  5. Make scrambled eggs – whisk 6 eggs and 6 egg whites and add to pan with olive oil spray.
  6. Sprinkle with pepper to taste.
  7. Add potatoes, eggs, salsa if desired and cheese over 6 bowls.
  8. Freeze!
  9. Reheat 2 minutes in microwave, stir, heat for additional minute.
Nutrition Facts
Servings 6.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 378
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 15 g 23 %
Saturated Fat 6 g 31 %
Monounsaturated Fat 5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 208 mg 69 %
Sodium 697 mg 29 %
Potassium 1364 mg 39 %
Total Carbohydrate 41 g 14 %
Dietary Fiber 5 g 20 %
Sugars 5 g
Protein 20 g 41 %
Vitamin A 14 %
Vitamin C 34 %
Calcium 22 %
Iron 14 %

Taco Pizza

Posted on by Dad

I’m a busy mama of four hungry boys. It is no small task to come up with healthy, inexpensive meals that will please my crew! This is certainly not the healthiest dish on our family menu, but it’s quick, easy, inexpensive, and with just a few substitutions, can be a decent weeknight dinner. We’re trying it out tonight, so I’ll let you know how it works. Enjoy!

Taco Pizza Recipe

Monday and Tuesday Workout and Meal Plan

Posted on by Jama

It’s a two-for-one! Without further ado….

Monday
4:35am – wake up; Watermelon Spark and Arginine Extreme; Catalyst; O2 Gold
5:15am – (awful, miserable, slow) 3+ miles (3.25, maybe? I was still worn out from the Haunted Half Marathon, so it was a recovery run!)
5:45am – Muscle Fuel
6am – Power Pump (this was a much better workout than the run – my body didn’t hate me for lifting)
7am – Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake
9am – 2 scrambled eggs; 2 slices bacon; banana
11am – Spark
11:30am – 2 slices whole wheat crust cheese pizza; 1 slice whole wheat crust cheese bread
2pm – Spark
3pm – 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts and craisins; 1 granny smith apple
6pm – Chicken Noodle Soup, 1/3 cup steamed corn; Chobani Greek Strawberry Yogurt with NatureBox Honey Sunflower Kernels; Omega Plex

1932 calories; 45% carb, 28% protein, 27% fat

Tuesday
5:20am – wake up; Watermelon Spark and Arginine Extreme; Catalyst; O2 Gold
6am – Cycle
7:30am – whole wheat banana pancakes; grape jelly; banana; 2 slices bacon
11am – Spark
11:30am – chicken noodle soup (see recipe link above); peanuts and craisins; 1/2 cup chopped pineapple (ok…I don’t know if it was actually 1/2 cup, but “whatever the kids didn’t eat” is a little vague)
2:30pm – Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake
5:15pm – (it was FREE and I burned 640 calories in cycle this morning…don’t judge) Chick Fil A 8-ct nuggets and medium waffle fries – with honey mustard (duh!)

A word to the wise – my diet is probably 85% super healthy. It’s not that I don’t like junk food – I really REALLY do – but I know that my body doesn’t feel or perform at it’s best when I fuel it with junk. Case in point – those nuggets and fries were delicious, but I spent the rest of the night in and out of the bathroom.

1878 calories; 53% carb, 19% protein, 28% fat (THIS, by the way, is why the “fast food diet” is so bad. Not only is it high in calories, but you’re loading up on carbs and fat. Both macro-nutrients have their place, but only when they are of the healthy sort and balanced with protein. An occasional treat? Sure, but don’t base your diet on it.)

You may (or may not) have noticed that I’ve not been taking the MNS this week. I haven’t decided if I want to continue with the MNS or switch over to just the Core Plex and Omega Plex. I will always take some sort of multi-vitamin. As you can see, even with careful planning and effort on my part, I don’t eat nearly enough fruits and veggies…a good multi helps fill in the gaps. Let’s just say that I’m waiting on a test result to help me decide whether to go with MNS or just Core Plex. 😉

<3 Jama

BBQ Chicken and Roasted Potato Casserole

Posted on by Jama

This is super duper easy, y’all, and the hubs loves it!

3/4lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/3cup bbq sauce (go with an all-natural, no sugar sauce)
3-4 baking potatoes
2tbs butter or margarine
1/2cup shredded cheddar
1/2cup low fat sour cream
cooking spray
salt and pepper

In the morning, place chicken breasts and bbq sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 8 or so hours. Pull chicken apart with a fork.

Preheat oven to 450. Spray a 9×11 baking dish with cooking spray. Slice potatoes into cubes, place in dish, and add salt, pepper, and butter or margarine (just enough butter to keep the potatoes moist while cooking…NOT MUCH!). Bake potatoes uncovered for 30 minutes or so. I like crispy potatoes, so I cook them a little longer, stirring about halfway through.

Add bbq chicken to potatoes and spread sour cream and cheese over top. Reduce heat to 350 and return to oven until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

<3 Jama

Easy (Clean!) Chicken Noodle Soup

Posted on by Jama

My hubs has the crud and said that he wanted some chicken noodle soup. Since Campbell’s is out of the question, I searched Pinterest for a canned-like, clean, chicken noodle soup with NO vegetables (per his request. He’s not a veggie fan).

That apparently doesn’t exist.

Despite my very best mothering efforts, I can’t reverse 40 years of vegetable-hating or turn my three boys into fancy eaters overnight. I was on my own.

The recipe that follows is what I came up with. It is super simple and PLAIN. It’s perfect kid-food. Or husband-food if he hates vegetables and wants some comfort soup. Campbell’s it ain’t, but it was as close as I could come and keep it healthy!

Jama’s Own Clean Chicken Noodle Soup

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into TINY cubes
32oz organic, low-sodium chicken broth (I used Harvest Organic from Ingles)
6oz (half a bag) of Whole Wheat No Yolks egg noodles
garlic powder
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper

Get 3qts of water boiling in a large pot for the egg noodles (per package directions). Cook the chicken through with just a splash of chicken broth. Add garlic powder, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper – all to taste. Add the rest of the chicken broth to the chicken and spices and let simmer while your noodles are cooking. When the noodles are ALMOST done, drain, return to pot, and add chicken and broth. I let the noodles finish cooking in the chicken and broth mixture so that they had a little flavor. I’m guessing about 10 minutes? I gave it a couple of tastes before it was just right. Boom. Chicken noodle soup.

This was a HUGE hit – like everyone got seconds kind of huge hit. The next time I make it, I’ll cook some veggies separately to add in to mine and the kids’ bowls. Tonight I just made some grilled cheese on whole wheat sourdough bread. Comfort food that I can feel good about!

Here’s the deal, y’all – not everything has to be fancy. Kids generally don’t like fancy stuff and, while I do cook a lot that requires a more mature palate, there is nothing wrong with making something super simple that you know your family will love. Tweak it, make it healthy, and enjoy it!

<3 Jama

Go-To Pizza

Posted on by Jama

Every Friday is pizza night at my house, and has been for a few years now. We’ve gone from buying different types of dough from the store, to using french bread from the grocery’s bakery, to making my own dough from scratch. Whenever we decided to cut out sugar and white flour, I was tasked with discovering a pizza dough that would make my boys happy that didn’t include the offending ingredients. It was easier than I expected!

I took my old recipe, switched to whole wheat or spelt flour (whichever I happened to have on hand) and just cut out the sugar. That’s it. And it’s GOOD!

Jama’s Easy Clean Pizza

2.5-3 cups whole grain flour (wheat, spelt, or a mixture of those with a potato or rice flour)
3 1/2 teaspoons quick-rising yeast
1 cup hot water (from the tap is fine, but make sure it’s HOT!)
pinch of salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1C flour, yeast, and salt, and blend well. Gradually add water to mixture. Blend at a low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, add 1.5-2 cups flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. On a floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for about 15 minutes.

Divide dough in half and press out onto two pizza pans (I use pizza stones…do that if you have them!) and prick randomly with a fork. Let rest again in a warm place for 10-15 minutes while your oven preheats to 450.

Bake at 450 for 5 minutes.

Add sugar-free pasta sauce or some roma tomatoes, cheese, and your favorite toppings and bake for another 5 minutes or until desired doneness.

<3 Jama