Meal Planning Monday

Linking up with Emily again for Meal Pinning Monday...

Week 3 of this 30 day transformation!!! So Far, after 2 weeks, I have lost 16.6 lbs.... guess I'll stick with it :)

Monday

B- Cereal with Almond Milk :)

L- Chef Salad

D- I'll make this in the crockpot today, and I'll probably add leftover black beans from last week. 

Tuesday

B- Omelet...I think this sounds good...

L- Chicken Tacos with leftover chicken from Monday night!

D- Chef Salad

Wednesday- Shake Day!!

Thursday

B- Boiled Egg, Wheat Toast with Almond Butter

L- Burger with Pepper Jack Cheese

D- Paleo Fish from a few weeks ago

Friday

B- Oatmeal

L- Taco Salad... I'll use the rest of the chicken from Monday with a good salad

D- I get steak and sweet potatoes, and this looks great!

Saturday

B- Fruit Smoothie!

L- Quinoa Pizza Bites

D- Burger with Roasted Asparagus

Sunday

B- My Low Carb Pancakes

L- Pork Loin with Quinoa

D- Leftovers

Low Carb Pancakes

2 posts in 1 day?!? whaaaaat!! Actually, this one belongs with the other one, but I couldn't get it all out at one time, so here we go with post 2 for the day! :)

Decided to make waffles instead of pancakes because I have yet to use the waffle maker I got for Christmas that mom, Spenser, and Michael fought for during Black Friday! However.... I think these work better in pancake form. I did alter the recipe to what I thought would give me really good waffles, but really there were just pancakes in waffle shapes.

This isn't my recipe entirely. A girl doing xyngular with me posted it in our recipe group on My Fitness Pal. She found the recipe in a really old cookbook.... see cookbooks are still gems :)

Low Carb Ricotta Pancakes

4 eggs 
1 cup ricotta cheese 
1/2 vanilla flavored whey protein powder
1 teaspoon baking powder 

optional

blueberries

bananas

walnute or pecans

chocolate chips

Spray griddle with non-stick cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs , butter, and ricotta until smooth. Whisk in the protein powder, baking powder. Mix until well combined. 

Drop batter onto the griddle... amount depending on your preference of size. Flip pancake when it starts bubbling.

Serve with real butter, sugar-free syrup or jelly, or Splenda and cinnamon.

Nutrion Facts (no options added or topping) 

Serving: 1 waffle

Calories: 182

Fat: 13 g

Sodium: 87 mg

Carbs: 2.8 g

Fiber: 0

Sugar: .6 g

Protein: 14 g

***I use full fat everything because I am on a low carb diet, and low fat means high sugar and carb count.
****Nutrional Facts are based on the brands of ingredients I used. I sit in the store and read every label to get the best facts. That may not be the case for you.

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers

P.S. On the blog tomorrow-------- CHEAT Day (Pasta Edition)

Fall magic muffins :-)

I may have already posted this recipe, but it's too good not to post again :-)

1 box of spice cake mix ( or carrot cake).

1 can of pumpkin

Mix, mix, mix.

Pour into 12 muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for 20 or so minutes.

Now for the extra special part :-)

Cream one package of cream cheese and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Add one egg. Squeeze yumminess into the center of each muffin prior to baking :-)

Cream one stick of butter and a pinch of sea salt with 1 tsp of vanilla.
In a saucepan, melt 1 cup of powdered sugar until it's a caramel color. Add a tbls or two of cream. Combine and cool. Add caramel sauce to butter and whip. Add powdered sugar until you get a frosting consistency.

Frost muffins :-)

Turtle Cheesecake :)

This was a super easy cheesecake recipe. It is also pretty tasty!

Crust
1. Graham cracker crumbs
2. Butter

Filling
1. 3 packages of cream cheese
2. 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 tbs vanilla
5. 1 tbs lemon juice
6. 1/2 cup of sugar
7. 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips

Topping
1. Caramel sauce
2. Hot fudge sauce
3. Walnuts

Mix melted butter and Graham cracker crumbs together and press into a spring form pan.

In a mixer, combine cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla until creamy.

In a separate bowl, partially melt chocolate chips. Add one cup of filling mixture, and combine thoroughly.

Pour half of white mixture in pan, then the chocolate mixture, then the second half of the white mixture.

Bake at 300 degrees for one hour with a pan of water on the bottom rack.

After one hour, turn off oven and leave for 2 hours.

Chill cheesecake for one hour then drizzle caramel and fudge on top. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Enjoy.

Homemade Butterfingers

Seriously, it doesn't get easier than this.

3 ingredients= wonderfulness.

1. 1 bag of candy corn
2. 1 jar of peanut butter
3. 1 package of chocolate candy quick

Melt candy corn for one minute then 15 second intervals.

Add peanut butter to melted candy corn.

Stir, stir, stir.

Spread on cookie sheet as thin as you like.

Let sit overnight.

Melt candiquick.

Cut pb mixture in pieces.

Dip in chocolate and place on parchment paper to dry (I dipped bottom and drizzles top).

Enjoy.

Jalapeno Cheese Dip

This is my new favorite dip! I think you should try it, too!!

Ingredients

2 fresh jalapenos, diced

1 cup of pickled jalapenos, roughly chopped

2 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup of parmesan cheese, shredded

1 package of cream cheese, softened

8 oz. of sour cream

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, powder kind

1/2 panko bread crumbs

In a mixing bowl, combine jalapenos, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream. Spoon into a small baking dish. Mix together powdered parmesan cheese and panko. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 15- 20 or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with your favorite crackers or toast.

** will try to post a picture on Sunday

Mexican Manicotti

I tried out this dish a few weeks ago and it was supurb : ) I found a recipe that hinted at this idea but I didn't like all of the ingrediants. Therefore, I took the idea and created a recipe.

Warning: when i cook, i rarely use measuring utensils so i really have no clue as to the exact amount of anything... sorry. also, i love garlic and spicy so if you do not, you may need to alter the amounts of those ingrediants.

Pasta
12 manicotti noodles
1 pack of cream cheese, softened
1 8 oz. container of sour cream
1 packet of taco seasoning (or fajita, chicken taco, etc.)
1 rotisserie chicken with all of the chicken picked off
1 shallot, diced finely
3 cloves of garlic, dices finely
olive oil
sredded pepper jack cheese (a mexican blend will do)
1 can of rotel tomatoes, strained

Tomatillo Sauce
8 tomatillos, in quarters
8 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 red onion, in chunks
3 jalapenos, in chunks
olive oil

In a small roasting pan, place all incrediants for tomatillo sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake on 350 degrees for about 1 hour (or until all incredianrs are soft to touch). Add everything from roasting pan to a blender and blend until smooth (or chunky, if you like). Add salt and pepper, if needed. Set aside.

Boil manicotti in salted water until pasta is al dente.
Remove from stove and strain.
In a medium sauce pan, coat the bottom with a light layer of olive oil.
Add shallots and cook until translucent.
Add garlic and cook until soft.
Add cream cheese, sour cream, rotel tomatoes, and seasoning pack.
Heat until all ingrediants are happy : )(a little bubbly and all incorperated).
Add chicken and 2/3 of your shredded cheese to the cream sauce mixture.
It should be thick.

Now comes the fun part....
Stuff cream sauce mixture into the manicotti shells : )
Try not to break any of the shells.
Layer the manicotti in a 13 by 9 baking dish.
When all shells have been stuffed, pour your tomatillo sauce on top of the manicotti.
Sprinkle the last 1/3 of your shredded cheese on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 or until bubbly.
Serve with Spanish rice and Mexican cornbread.



In the picture, you will see red sauce. We tried it out with a store bought enchilada sauce. It was equally as good. So, if you do not have time to make the tomatillo sauce, a can of enchilada sauce will do the trick!