Turkey Quesadilla

The other day for lunch I was staring in my refrigerator thinking lunch is the HARDEST meal to come up with! I never really come up with a good healthy meal for lunch thats, when I saw my .5lb of turkey and thought what can I do with this and eventually this quesadilla came to my mind. It was delicious and really simple to make!! 

What You'll Need

- about a half pound of lean ground turkey 

- 1/2 cup of green peppers

- 1 stalk of celery 

- 1/8 cup of cheddar cheese

- Hot sauce to your liking

- 1 tortilla ( I used an original one because it was all that was in the house but use whole wheat or any kind you would like)

What to do

- defrost the turkey if frozen 

- Chop the vegetables in to small pieces 

- Then place the vegetables in a frying pan with a very small amount of cooking spray or oil on medium heat and cover for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are starting to soften 

- 

- Once they have begun to soften add in the ground turkey and mix until turkey is well cooked

- for the next step I used a griddle set at 350 degrees but you can use a grill or oven which ever is available to you

- first place the tortilla on the griddle or grill to warm it up alittle then add the turkey and vegetable mix and sprinkle with cheese then add the hot sauce to your own liking

- fold over the tortilla and flip about half way through cooking total cook time is about 10 minutes

- cut in to three pieces and enjoy! 

- you make about two servings out of this I split mine with my mom or you can refrigerate them and enjoy the next day! 

Let me know what you think of this recipe in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx

Sweet Potato Sliders

One of my favorite new foods is Sweet Potato, I love it its like dessert at dinner that's good for you. With just alittle salt it is fantastic, but today I wanted to try something different with it and after some thought I came up with the idea of making sweet potato sliders using the sweet potato in place of a bun and a slider size turkey burger with cheddar cheese. 

Don't They just look fantastic!! and I promise they taste just as good as they look. It is a great combination of salty and sweet. 

What You'll Need 

- 2 Sweet Potatoes

- About .5lbs of ground turkey 

- Cheddar Cheese block 

- Salt

- Pepper

- Olive Oil 

What To Do

- Peel the Sweet Potato and slice so that they are about 3/4 of an inch thick you should end up with about 10-12 slices

- Cut up slices of Tinfoil for each 

- place a Slice of Sweet potato on a rectangular piece of tinfoil

- Coat each side with olive oil salt and pepper to your own liking

- Fold up the tinfoil so that the potato is wrapped completely

- Place on the warmed up grill 

- Cook on the grill for about 20 minutes flipping half way between 

- While Sweet Potatoes are cooking roll ground turkey in to balls then flatten so that are sliders shaped

- Once the Potatoes have cooked for about 15 minutes put he burgers on the grill I put a piece of tinfoil on the grill and cook the burgers on that it helps keep them from falling apart and thought the grates of the grill

- When the turkey burgers are almost completely cooked slice the block of cheese thin and put one slice on each burger

- Take the burgers and sweet potatoes off

- Unwrap the sweet potatoes as you want to serve them so that they stay warm

- Place the burger between two slices of the sweet potato and enjoy! be careful biting in the sweet potatoes are really hotttt!!! 

My whole dinner this evening was two of these sliders green beans and a cucumber 

I Hope you Enjoyed and try out this recipe and let me know what you think in a comment below! 

Also let me know if you like these recipe posts or what other kinds of posts you would like to see!

Stephaniexx

Teriyaki Kabobs

Finally A Food Post! 

It has been a while since I posted a recipe, mostly because all of my meals lately have been pretty basic and I have been working on getting the healthy eating down and now that I have a better understanding of nutrition and health I will hopefully be posting more foods. Now I am no expert and I am not a calorie counter so none of them will have calories and nutritional value information however I can say that they will be made with much more natural ingredients and much less sugar and little to know processed food. This also does not mean in any way shape or form that I am paleo I am just aiming to avoid processed garbage as much as possible and eat more organic although I realize the expense makes it hard those are just my general goals to eating. 

Now on to todays recipe is Chicken ( or steak ) Teriyaki Kabobs 

These were delicious! 

What you'll Need 

- 1 Package of Chicken (or Steak) 

- 2 Zucchini 

- 1 Green Pepper 

- Bag of mini potatoes

- 3 Onions

- Teriyaki Marinade 

- Olive Oil

- Salt or a seasoning

What to Do 

- First Chop up the vegetables in to manageable chunks 

- then add oil and seasoning to the vegetables 

- Marinate the Chicken for about an hour with Teriyaki Marinade 

- Then its time to stick it to em! 

- We first wet the Sticks this helps to keep them from burning too much on the grill it also puts moisture inside the stick to help cook through every thing. 

- while putting the meat and vegetables on kabobs be careful! I poked my self a few times and it was actually pretty painful 

- Cook them on the grill for about a half hour but be at the grill to watch them rotating to make sure that no one side burns and they are cooked through 

- Now enjoy! 

I really loved this recipe it was some work but it was worth it! 

Let me know if you try out this recipe and what you think of it in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx

Cha-Cha-Cha- CHIA

I have caved to the trend and have had my first Chia product. 

For those of you who dont know what Chia is or means, It is a seed that is mostly grown in mexico it comes from the plant Salvia Hispanica. The use of Chia seeds dates back to the Mayan's and Aztecs, more recently it is known by the fad Chia pets which is where many 90s kids know the cha-cha-cha- Chia comercials in which the Chia seeds were used in a clay mold to grow a grass that appeared like hair on what ever the clay mold was, I vividly remember my uncle buying my cousin a cat chia pet because she forgot to give him a list for Christmas. 

Now all this talk about seeds and plants my have you wondering so where does this come in with food? well there are many different ways to use these seeds they can be bought already in food, for example some Natures Path cereals are made with Chia seeds, it can also be bought in a drink form which is what I will focus on as I tried a drink from the company Mamma Chia, you can also buy it at your local grocery store and use it for baking or cooking on your own accord. 

Some of the positives of the Chia seed are that they can be used in products that are gluten free as well as vegan. They also contain Healthy Omega-3 Fatty Acids , Carbohydrates, Protein, Fiber, Antioxidants and Calcium 

The Chia product that I have tried out is Cranberry Lemonade by Mamma Chia

The Mamma Chia company started with Janie Hoffman the creator and now CEO who began using chia to benifit her own health and created the company to share these wonderful seeds with her community. The Mamma Chia brand has grown since its 2009 start, seeing as it has reached specialty stores such as whole foods in Connecticut it has branched pretty far since its San Diego beginings. The Mamma Chia Products range from the Vitality Beverage which is what I got as well as Mamma Chia Squeeze which Im not really sure what exactly they are but basically a squeeze togo pouch snack. There is tons more information about Mamma Chia and the amazing things that their drinks can do for you at mammachia.com

Now what you have all been waiting for I'm sure My opinion!  

So what do I think of this Mamma Chia drink? First of all I LOVE the flavor, I bought it in cranberry lemonade and it is delicious I also really want to try the Cherry Lime :) as well as many of the other flavors.

The texture is something unexpected I had heard of it before so I kinda knew what to expect, but for those of you who don't really know something with the chia seeds makes the drink almost gelatin like... not that I'm promoting drinking but I kind of think of it as a liquidy jello shot BUT HEALTHY FOR YOU !!! 

Also you may be thinking I don't really like the idea of a seed in my drink... but let me tell you , I hate smoothies that have seeds in them I just dont like there to be something crunchy in my drink call me crazy lol. But I really dont mind it in these the seeds go down really easy and once you get past the initiall omg this is really jello like its not bad at all! 

I hope this post was helpful!! If you have tried Chia in other ways besides these Mamma Chia drinks let me know in a comment below what you think of Chia seeds and other ways that you have used them! 

Stephaniexx

How I Store Fruit to Keep it Fresh

My least favorite thing is when you buy fruit and everyday you want some you have to go in wash it cut up what you want and while this may make me sound lazy but I just dont feel like putting in that much effort every time and usually I go for fruit because I want something quick to much on or I am packing it for my lunch. So in order to make fruit easy to access I have started cleaning and cutting it up the day I buy it the packaging it in tuperware so that it is good to eat. 

Also part of my trick is putting a paper towel or napkin in the bottom of the tuperware to keep the fruit from losing its moisture and keeping them fresh. I also use tuperware that is easily stackable that way it takes up less space in your refrigerator much better than the plastic containers that the fruit may come in or in a melons case keep it from rolling around

Stephaniexx

How to keep sandwiches sand free at the beach!

Hello!! as you may or may not know I am at the beach for vacation for the week just enjoying the sun and some fun with my family. Currently we are enjoying a coctail hour with some cheese and crackers and my favorite mango daquri. While on this vacation I pondered what on earth am I going to blog about this week, I could discuss my travels, some hot spots of my favorite places to eat some outfit choices the list was endless but then working to prepare sandwiches for the beach I realized my moms sandwich packing Idea was perfect it keeps your sandwich from getting soggy and if you do it propperly you can get a sand free sandwich. You can choose to follow by picture example or I will list steps below

1. Step one is to lay out all your meats we do this so that you have the options and everyone can make thier own sandwiches to thier liking

2. Pull out a peice of saran wrap the bigger you want your sandwich the more saran wrap you will need

3. Place the first meat selection on the end of the saran wrap so that theres alittle to fold over then fold it over again once so that the meat is not showing but the saran wrap is now if you want to add more meat add and then fold over again or you can move on to cheeses and do the same thing

4. once all the meats and cheese are added then just keep folding and seal the saran wrap at the end.

5. Place the wrapped up meats inside your slices of bread your roll or what ever you choose to eat a sandwich on then add mustard, mayo ect. to the middle of the roll. 

6. Place in a sandwich bag and lable and you are good to go 

we then took all the little sandwich bags and put them in a big freezer bag and pack in a cooler this is yet another sand prevention measure 

hope you all enjoyed this quick post! I probably wont post again until sunday with a vaca recap possibly a restaurant suggestion post who knows lol I hope you all are having a wonderful week! 

Stephaniexx

Pastina Pastina Pastina

As you may or may not know I had my wisdom teeth removed on Monday which means my food choices for the last week have been very limited. I truly have been living off yogurt and Pastina Now if you don't know what Pastina is it is basically these tiny little pasta stars. Now they are very good but when they are all you can eat it gets boring, so I being my creative self have come up with different ways if eating Pastina and so far I have 4 of them 2 pretty general and classic and two a little out there but I promise you they are all delicious.

1. The classic butter and salt, so this was my original taste of Pastina and it is very good and very simple but I wanted something different 

2. So I moved on to pasta sauce newmans  own is my favorite sauce at the moment and it was delicious but again in the mood for something different 

3. Which brings me to dinner the other night when my family was having tacos and I was stuck with same old Pastina well guess what I did I too some of the liquid that was in the meat with the taco seasoning and poured it in to my Pastina and it was delicious I could not get enough if it honestly you may think I'm crazy but try it and you'll love it 

4. Lastly I am a barbecue sauce addict not joking here I'm obsessed and knowing my obsession Eddie who had come to my parents to help take care of me goes I'm surprised you haven't put barbecue sauce on it yet I took this as a challenge and I accepted so barbecue sauce on Pastina don't hate till you try it cause its fantastic! 

So if you are with me in the unlucky bunch with wisdom teeth removal try these combinations because I am four days in and I promise the same foods get old quick. 

Also a side note I am in the process of trying to purchase a new laptop so until I get it my posts will be from my iPhone or my moms iPad so if they aren't quite as organized as the posts from my computer I am very sorry.

If you enjoy the Pastina varieties try them out and let me know in a comment below! 

Stephaniexx 

Peppers and Onion Pizza

Hello lovies! I am now two finals down two to go and so happy!! I have a last few days of studying to get in and then hopefully by thursday I will be all done then on to senior week festivities. In leu of my cheery mood I decided to post pone studing for alittle later and post a pizza recipie for you guys and here it is! Last week I had a craving for pizza and pepperoni and so I decided to whip up this pizza quick for lunch one day. It is probably one of my favorite pizzas next to chiken and pesto 

Ingredients: 

- Pilsbury artisan pizza dough 

- 1 onion

- 1 green pepper

- tomato sause

- romano cheese

- pepperoni pizza 

YUM! so first you start by pressing out the pizza dough on to a cookie sheet while the oven pre heats to 400 degrees 

Next put the dough in the oven for about 10 minutes so it starts to bake, while the dough is baking prepare the peppers and onions by cutting them in to cubes or to your liking

After 10 minutes of baking lay down the pasta sauce on the pizza dough and spread the peppers and onions across the pizza

next add the pepperoni and romano cheese

bake for an additional 15 minutes and you have some crispy delicious pizza! 

Just a side note if you are looking for quick easy pizza dough the pilsbury doughs are fantastic!!! they are simple and pretty much lay out perfectly with out to much working of the dough and no rolling pin needed (which is great cause I dont have one lol) 

Stephaniexx

Jillian Michaels!

If you haven't figured out why I was in Connecticut last night yet then you will now! I went to the Jillian Michaels Maximize your Life Tour! It was great she is such an inspirational and motivational speaker and touched on everything from Eating Healthy to Exercise to Improving your Self. Now I do have a minor obsessionwith Jillian I listen to her podcasts have watched every season of biggest loser and just think she is a fantastic role model to so many people, and truelly she has very simple concepts that are just so reasonable for everyone and anyone to follow. So since I am sure many people are not going to get out to be able to go see her I am going to take a few of the things that I learned there and give that information to you. In no way should this replace going to see the show because honestly it was amazing and she is hilarious and I absolutely recomend going to see her live. I also only have like a breif little outline of what I took ut of it and you may take something completely different out of itso GO SEE THE SHOW! its worth it. 

Essentially I am going to just give you guys some of the notes that I took on my phone durring the show (yes I am that neurotic that I took Notes) and then give some comentary on my opinions and such. 

- Read food Labels Carefully ~ When you are look at something that says its healthy really take a look at the label because alot of companies make them to confuse you, check the serving size! 

- Check the Ingredients ~ Ingredients are listed in the order of what is most prevelant in the food, I think it is very important to check Ingredients there are so many artificial dyes and colors and chemicals that are in foods and it is so important for you health not to eat those chemicals 

- "clean 15" ~ essentially these were foods in her presentation that have thicker peels and skins that pesticides have harder times breaking through and getting to your foods so these are foods that if you can't go organic it is not as bad as those with thinnner skin. So sweet potatoes great, mangos great, strawberries go organic :( I know that was rough for me to hear because I LOVE my strawberries and I lack some money in the back pocket lol but it makes sense

- Spend more money on organic meats that organic fruits and veggies ~ now have you ever seen the movie food inc. its pretty gruesome but if you want a reason to buy organic meats check it out 

- Eat 4 meals every 3 to 4 hours~ Now while I am an epic picker lol I think this is a good concept to organize my meals and keep them to eating 4 a day 

- Stop using workout machines~ I LOVE THIS CONCEPT when you sit on a machine and move in one motion constantly maybe that muscle is soar but when youre walking around doing house work are you using one muscle at a time ofcourse not you are using your whole body and thats how you should work out by using your whole body! 

- Train in Circuts ~ this helps to keep your heart rate up and you moving constantly and have one of the exercises in the circuit be a heart rate increaser like jumping jacks or burpees or jup rope or jogging in place

- If you love something do more of it ~ for example I love blogging maybe I don't have thousands of followers or views or make a ton of money but I love doing it I love thinking up different posts and writing down my thoughts and so I am doing more of it!! 

- Gear your environment for Success ~ So in your house remove temptations, pack your gym clothes the night before so they are there and kind of a like hey I have to get my butt to the gym, Pack your lunch the night before so when someone says to you hey want to go get sandwiches no I'm okay I brought my lunch. 

So those are just my quick little notes that I took I would really recomend that every one see the show if they can it was a really great experience and I had a great time! 

Stephaniexx

Yummy Taco Bites

I am going to start off this post by saying it is midnight guys and I am getting up at 7 tomorrow to get up and drive back to New York because I am currently at my parents in CT for a very exciting reason which you will find out in a post tomorrow!! but essentially my purpose for telling you this is that I am tired, and going to be even more tired tomorrow so I am sorry if this post is thrown together alittle but I havent had the chance to get it up all week because I have been busy with finals and I wanted to post this and then post something specific tomorrow so yeah I am trying to get it up at midnight. 

So anyway I made these the other day as a spin off of my Pizza Bites which you can find at that link and If you like this recipie I would deffinitly suggest checking those out as well. 

Ingredients

-  1 packet of Taco Seasoning

- 2lbs of ground beef ( can use less ) 

- Flower tortillas about 4 

- 1 tomato

- Mexican mixed cheese or any mix that you would like

So how are you going to make these gems

- First cooking your ground meat in a frying pan and transfer it in to a large bowl

- Drain any water that is in the bowl I found that my meat got very watery so I had to drain it quite a bit

- mix in the taco seasoning to your personal liking eddie is not a fan of too strong of taco seasoning so I only used about half of the packet for two pounds of taco meat

- Then cut out the tortillas and put them in to the muffin tin so that they cover the bottom I use a large mug for size 

- Fill in the cups with the taco meat

- Some of the cups I added diced tomatos which was really good

- then top off with cheese and bake in the oven at 350 for about 15minutes 

I ended up having a lot of left over meet after I made a muffin tins worth of these so with what was left over I made a taco salad to bring for lunch the next day so you could either make a second batch of bites cook less meat or do what I did and use it as a meal plan for the next day. 

Hope you enjoyed this recipie and leave some feedback in a comment below. I am going to try to catch some zzzzzsss now :) 

Stephaniexx

Italian Sandwiches

This is probably one of my favorite foods ever!!! My mom only makes them on certain occassions where she needs to bring an appetizer but I really like them for a meal in general. They are just perfect and I devour them but warning probably aren't the healthiest food for you, but totally worth ignoring your calorie count for the day, and they are pretty easy to make as well. 

Ingredients: 

- 3 packages of Crescent rolls

- 1/4 pound of salami

- 1/4 pound of pepperoni

- 1/4 pound of ham

- 1/4 pound of provalone

- 1/4 cup of grated parmasean cheese

- 2 eggs 

- 2 jars of roasted red peppers

So I am going to just give a breif picture not exactly step by step but close, then I will describe alittle more how I go about makeing these. 

So how does this master peice come together you may ask? 

- Starting I lay out the first crescent roll along the bottom of a casserole dish 

- Next I add the pepperoni so that there is barely any of the crescent roll visible through the pepperoni 

- Then I add the ham laying it out flat on top of the pepperoni, If you want since ham is pretty thin if you want to buy some more ham then you can double up on it and make the sandwiches a bit more meaty

- After the ham I add my first layer of peppers just laying them out across it but I dont put them super close together just kind of evenly around so that you can do a second layer of peppers

- Now I am sure you were all thinking eggs hmm she must put them on the top like a glaze or something but no it goes in the middle, I mix the eggs so that the yolk is broken and they are all mixed up and then I mix in the parmasean cheese with the egg, I then spread it around

- Now its time to break out the second crescent roll just roll it out over top

- Finally the last meat is going on your sandwhich, so now I add the salami same way you add the pepperoni 

- on top of the salami I add the provalone cheese, which I add in the same way I do with the salami and pepperoni 

- lastly I add the rest of the peppers and cover it with the final crescent roll 

- Put the dish in the oven for about 20 min at 350 degrees, or until all the layers of crescent roll begin to look browned

and ENJOY! 

Now I know I gave you the specific order in which I put the ingredients together but you really dont have to put them in that order mix it up be crazy go for the change and let me know what combinations you like best! 

Stephaniexx

Pork For Dinner

One of my favorite meals to make for dinner is a seasoned pork roast. It is delicious and I love eating it along with my Sweet Potato Fries which you can find at that link :) This pork recipie is very simple to make and takes about 30 to 40 minutes, a huge plus I find with it though is that I can stick the pork and the fries in the oven together and dont have to check on them for a few minutes which allows you do get other things done, I like to do homework or clean up the house alittle. 

Ingredients: 

- Hatfield Pork Roast (any flavor this particular day I used italian seasoning) 

- McCormic Montreal Steak Grill Mates

- Olive Oil 

Directions: 

- Pre Heat Oven to 350 Degress

- Use a Brownie or Casserole Pan and layer the bottom olive oil 

- Take the Pork Roast out of packaging put in the pan 

- Sprinkle the grill mates on all sides of the pork roast (use sparingly because it it a very strong seasoning you dont need alot at all) 

- Put in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes 

- use a meat thermometer to determine if it is cooked fully

Enjoy!! 

Stephanie xx

Oatmeal Apple Muffins

I am and always have been a baker I love being in the kitchen its relaxing and I love creating something delicious to share with my family and friends. Now in my health persuit baking really is a difficult task and with a limited pantry I struggle even harder. So these muffins were really a trial and error for me I wanted a healthy yet great tasting food that I could bake. So this churning in my head for a few days what to make what to try and how to do it. This gem is what I came up with, and I can promise you its good because eddie ate it and he is the pickiest sweet eater ever he doesn't like cake I mean come on who doesn't like cake? So anyway I can atest to the wonderful taste of these muffins and heres how to make them!

Ingredients:

- 1 6oz container of apple cinnamon chobani

- 2 packages of Quaker Instant Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

- 1/2 tsp. baking powder

- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 

  Combine all the ingredients and distribute evenly in to a cup cake pan, make sure you use the paper cupcake things the mix is very sticky so would likely stick horribly to the pan if you didn't have them i think it would be horrible to get them out of the pan. 

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Most important Do not remove them from the paper until they are cool! This is important becase they will fall appart if you dont let them cool and seal together. The ones that I ate this morning for breakfast came out of the paper 10 times better than the ones I ate last night so I really recomend patients here. 

Let me know in a comment below if you try out this recipie I would love to hear if it works out as well for you and what your opinions are on the muffins

Stephanie xx

Brown Rice Chicken Stir Fry

Now going on with my healthy food kick I made stir fry with brown rice and vegetables. This is probably one of my favorite meals right now to make, its very simple, doesn't take much time, and is delicious. I also will make enough so that me and eddie will get more than one meal out of it (which by the way it taste pretty good cold too so I was able to take the left overs to eat for lunch the next day) 

What you'll Need: 

- 2 cups of rice

- 1 medium zucchini

- half a red pepper

- one medium onion 

- about a quater cup of teriyaki or stir fry sauce 

- 3 peices of chicken 

First grill the chicken I used my george forman but you can use a normal grill, while grilling the chicken start making the rice as instructed on the box, also chop up the zucchini onion and pepper for the peppers I like to cut them in to cubes and I use thin slices of zucchini becaus they cook quicker when they are thinner, then the onions I chopped into alittle smaller than the pepper (or should I say Eddie chopped because lets be honest I can not chop and onion with out crying and when I say crying I don't mean a few tears but a hysterical cry. I really hope I'm not the only one). 

I then put the vegetables in to a frying pan on meadium heat with some olive oil, I cover it with a lid to let it seam and leave it alone for about 3-5min after that I check it periodically stiring around the vegetables until they are all cooked thuroughly. 

Once the vegetables are all cooked I add the chicken and the Teriyaki sauce and let it simmer for another few minutes. I also add a little bit of teriyaki to the rice. 

Then mix together the rice and the Vegetables and Chicken in a large bowl and serve, I usually will take about half out before I serve and put it in to a tupperware container so that I already have that out and saved  to put in the refrigerator for the next day. 

If you have any suggestions for other ways to make a stir fry or different vegetables that you use let me know in a comment below, I am always willing to try new things! 

Stephanie xx