Tag: foodie

Spaghetti Squash Marinara with Turkey Meatballs

This lower calorie version of the classic spaghetti and meatballs won’t leave you wanting more.

The Appalachian BarbieLeave a comment

This hearty and filling meal won’t leave you missing the standard pasta and pork at half the calories.

For the Spaghetti squash:

Preheat oven to 400. Cut the ends off a medium spaghetti squash, set it upright and carefully cut down the middle. Remove seeds and strings from middle, rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grease a foil covered cookie sheet with nonstick spray and place squash cut side down. Bake for 50mins or until fork tender. Remove from oven, set aside to cool. When cooled, use tines of a fork to scrape “spaghetti strands” into bowl.

For the marinara sauce:

Heat large deep saucepan over medium heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil. Dice 1 green bell pepper (after removing ribs and seeds) and 1 small onion. Add to pan. Next, mince 2 cloves of garlic and add to pan, stirring to combine veggies. Add 3/4 container of fresh sliced baby Bella mushrooms and season salt/pepper/garlic powder/Italian seasoning to taste. Stir all and cook until onion and peppers are softened. Next add one jar of marinara sauce. (I used my go-to jarred marinara, Kroger’s Simple Truth Organic brand.) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 15 mins or so, until mushrooms are tender and all flavors have married. Set aside to cool.

For the meatballs:

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, add 1 lb of 93/7 lean ground turkey and 1 large egg. In a small baggie, mix 1/4C breadcrumbs, 1/4C grated Parmesan cheese, 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning, 3/4tsp salt, 3/4tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Shake to combine then add to bowl with meat and egg. Using hands, thoroughly mix. Grease a foil covered cookie sheet, and begin rolling out 1″ diameter balls. Bake for 12 mins, then flip meatballs and bake for another 10 mins.

After all ingredients are prepared, layer squash, marinara sauce and meatballs in a bowl and ENJOY!! 🍝

Southwestern breakfast quesadilla

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Not the best photography but trust me when I tell you this is one amazing #breakfast. I’ve had a lot of people ask me for the recipe for my breakfast quesadillas. The good thing about these are that you can mix them up a million different ways. This southwestern style one in particular is a little heavier than my usual breakfast due to the steak, so I just lightened up my other meals. Basically I always make sure I hit my 3 essentials- CARBS (super important in the AM, but try to eliminate them as the day goes on) the whole wheat wrap, PROTEIN: 1/3C egg whites, 1 whole egg and some type of meat (today I used leftover sirloin steak but you can do sausage, bacon, turkey bacon, ham, whatever) and HEALTHY FATS: avocado today, u could do a drizzle of olive oil, butter, etc.

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Preparation:

Heat a skillet big enough to hold a whole wheat tortilla lying flat over medium heat. Spray with nonstick. When heated, put your tortilla in, browning both sides but not to the point it’s stiff. Remove and set aside on a plate. Next I added a handful of spinach, because it’s always good to get your leafy green veggies in where you can. Sauté the spinach for a minute, while u whisk together 1/3C egg whites, 1 whole egg, salt and pepper to taste and 1-2 Tbsp of salsa. Add that to pan with spinach. DO NOT SCRAMBLE. You want the eggs to cook in a solid circle, being careful not to burn. Carefully flip and cook briefly to finish the eggs then remove them and lay them atop the tortilla. (The round eggs should be basically the same size as your wrap) Sprinkle a small amount of shredded cheddar cheese. Dice up leftover steak (1-2oz) or whatever meat you’re using and cook in the skillet until it’s heated or cooked through. Place it atop eggs. I thinly sliced tomatoes and avocado, sprinkled with a bit more salt and pepper. Then fold over in half. Place the whole folded quesadilla in the skillet finishing browning the wrap on both sides and melting together all the goodness inside. Enjoy!

Fajita steak salad

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Made a fantastic fajita steak salad for dinner tonight. Rubbed a sirloin with lots of fajita seasoning, salt and pepper and seared it in the cast iron. Next, tossed in lots of green bell pepper, onion and minced garlic with the same seasoning I used for the steak as well as a spoonful of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for some heat. Built the salad with spinach, diced tomato, fajita veggies, 4oz of steak, a spoonful each of corn and black beans and topped with 1/4 avocado. To make a southwestern dressing, I mixed some adobo sauce with 2Tbsp of 45 calorie Greek yogurt ranch to taste. Not gonna brag but this is one of the best dinners I’ve made in awhile.

Quick and Simple Dinners

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Good afternoon everyone!  I hope you’re all enjoying a warm summer day in your neck of the woods.  I would like to just throw up a quick post about some simple delicious dinner ideas I’ve made as of late.  Hopefully you will be inspired to create something delicious in your own kitchen tonight!  That is my goal for this blog by the way.  Sometimes we get stuck in a rut whether it’s in the kitchen, with our beauty routine, wearing the same clothes, going to the same places, and I hope to be a source of creative inspiration to pull you out of that stagnation.  All of my recipes and ideas are simply something to get the gears turning and are open to your own incredible interpretation.  I try to post basic, simple concoctions so you can add your own spin to it and tailor it to your own unique tastes!  I encourage each and every one of you to use these ideas as a starting point and share with me your own versions of them!

So back to the recipes.

001First up we have a simple, healthy meal from the grill.  Nothing beats cooking outside in the summer, and a juicy steak with fresh sides is always a great go-to.  I marinade my steaks for only 5-8 minutes in Low Sodium Dale’s (any longer and it’s too salty.)  Then I sprinkle it with a dry rub steak mix (kroger brand is on my spice shelf now) and spray it with a little nonstick before slapping it on the grill.  LADIES- master the art of grilling!  There is nothing sexier than a woman that can prepare a perfectly cooked hunk of meat for their man.  I would  never recommend cooking a steak over medium, but I guess that’s all just a matter of taste.  As for the sides, I got some brussell’s sprouts on sale, so I drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and cracked pepper and roasted them in the oven until they were fork tender.  I also had a 1/2C of quinoa, seasoned with the same olive oil, salt and pepper mixture.

087I also made my honey a pork loin in the crock pot for dinner.  I rubbed it with seasoning salt, pepper and italian seasoning, minced garlic and fresh parsley and basil from my herb garden.  I tossed it in the slow cooker with some diced potatoes, drizzled with olive oil and more dry rub and a splash of low sodium soy sauce and let it cook about 10 hours.  It doesn’t get any easier than that.

097I also threw together a “kitchen sink” soup, meaning, I had a bunch of stuff going out of date and didn’t know what else to make, so I made soup.  I pulled out all my veggies and meat that I needed to use up.  In this case it was garlic, onions, squash, peppers (green bell and jalepeno), and ground turkey.  I browned my turkey with the onion, garlic and peppers in a deep pot.  When it was no longer pink, I added some odds and ends from my pantry-a few cans of organic beans (green beans and chili beans), a few tablespoons of tomato paste, some rotel, and chicken broth. Once that came to a boil, I turned down the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes covered.  I then added the squash and cooked it for about 5 minutes more then turned off the heat.  Voila! A delicious summer soup that will last for a weeks worth of lunches.

111120I also just wanted to share some of the beauties I’ve been pulling from the garden this year.  I am always so blessed with what comes from the vegetables I plant.

101Probably my favorite new recipe is this quinoa crust pizza I stumbled across.  I saw this recipe on the instagram “livegreenhealthy” and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever made.  So far we’ve made 4 different types of pizzas on it, but this bbq chicken with jalepeno was a real crowd pleaser!  This would also be a delicious way to make cheese sticks.  Recipe:

1/2C quinoa

3tsp olive oil, divided

1C water

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp italian seasoning

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4C shredded italian cheese blend OR mozzarella

place uncooked quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and run under cool water for about a minute until water runs clear. Shake off as much excess liquid as pssible.  Add rinsed quinoa and 2tsp of olive oil to a medium sauce pot.  Turn the heat to medium high and stir occasionally for 6-7 minutes.The excess moisture will evaporate and the quinoa will begin to toast.  Carefully add the water to the toasted quinoa and cover.  Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer. Let quinoa cook for about 15 mins, stirring occasionally.  Remove lid and turn heat to low, cooking 5 more minutes to remove all excess moisture.  Transfer cooked quinoa to a large bowl and let cool for at leat 10 mins.  preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick.  In a small bowl, add eggs, 1tsp olive oil, garlic salt, italian seasoning and baking powder.  whisk until combined.  Add cheese to quinoa and stir to combine.  Add egg mixture to quinoa and stir well.  Spread the quinoa ‘dough’ into an even 1/4″ layer on the parchment.  Bake 15 minutes, top with sauce, toppings and cheese of your choice, then bake until all toppings are cooked through and cheese is melted and browning.  (Sometimes I finish under the broiler.)

121And finally, it doesn’t get any easier than a big fresh salad and chicken.  When you’re on a budget and wanting to eat healthy, you sometimes have to get creative.  Chicken legs are always a great alternative to more expensive breasts.  I marinated these in a mix of italian seasonings, garlic and olive oil and red wine vinegar, then baked them on 400 for about 25-30 minutes.  I filled my plate with fresh veggies and drizzled with a greek yogurt ranch dressing and that was that.  A simple healthy FILLING and inexpensive dinner.

I hope you’ll all try these out when you’re stumped on dinner.  Let me know how you tailored each dish to your own style!