Tag: nutrition

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

The Appalachian BarbieLeave a comment

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.

*

*

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

The Appalachian BarbieLeave a comment

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.

Cut Out the Crap!

The Appalachian Barbie4 Comments

Hey guys!  Hope you’re all staying cozy and warm during this nasty winter storm.  I was just sitting here enjoying a warm bowl of oats and watching the snow fall and got to thinking about the American diet and the struggle for the average person to get fit in a world so heavily influenced by “fast” food and “convenient” boxed and frozen dinners.  One of the biggest challenges in the journey to a healthy lifestyle is learning how to eat correctly.  Re-teaching your mind -and body- to not just consume, but also enjoy, whole nutritious meals can seem like a daunting task.  Well I’m not going to sugar coat it–

YOU.  HAVE.  TO CUT.  THE CRAP.

I mean that literally and figuratively.

I don’t want to sound mean in the following paragraphs.  But it’s time to get real and stop making excuses.  I hate excuses.  Everyone has one and all it is is another version of lazy.  I’m sorry to tell you but we’re all busy.  We’re all tired.  We all have outside circumstances that could influence our schedules.  But the answer is to MAKE YOURSELF A PRIORITY.  Human nature is to make time for the things that are important.  I can guarantee that you make time in your busy schedule to watch your favorite tv show, or get your nails done, or go to the bar for a drink after a stressful day.  So these are the things that are important to you.  It’s time to make yourself and your health your most important priority, because at the end of the day, why would you put that other stuff first??  That tv show, or your nail appointment, or that cocktail have never done anything for you and in the grand scheme of things what is it going to matter?  The things you are fueling your body with are going to have much more of an influence on your life in the long run than missing an episode of Real Housewives.

Along with getting real, it’s time to starting eating real.  No good can come from living on a diet filled with processed, preservative rich, mystery crap that comes from a drive-thru window or a box in the microwave.  It’s disgusting.  For god’s sake, pick up a box of hamburger helper and try to decode the nutrition information.  If you can’t pronounce it, don’t flippin eat it.  I am not trying to toot my own horn or be obnoxious, but one of the things I am most proud of is conquering the addiction to fast food. I’ve probably eaten fast food 4 times in the past 2 years and I felt disgusting each and every time. Anything that is sold so cheaply and to such a mass quantity of people can’t be good.  Not even subway! Their lettuce comes in a vacuum sealed bag, filled with preservatives so it can survive the distribution process without turning brown.  You’re ingesting that.  Lean Cuisines, Weight Watchers Meals….even most “protein bars” are full of awful crap that the human body should not be trying to break down!  It’s high time to stop eating for convenience and start eating for your health.

With all that being said, there is good news!  You don’t have to spend all day every day planning meals and thinking about workouts.  (Although for some of us, that sounds like a good time.)  With a little bit of scheduling, a healthy, nutritious diet can be just as convenient as hitting a drive thru on your lunch break.  The biggest step you can take to getting healthier is setting a schedule and sticking to it.  Scheduling out time to meal plan, a day to hit the store for the week, and time to prep your meals will soon become second nature if you just stick to it for a month.  This type of lifestyle will also be hugely beneficial to your budget.  I allow myself $75/wk for groceries and I only go to the store once a week.  That means that I better get what I need and if I run out, it’s tough titty said the kitty.  Make do with other stuff until the next trip to the store.  When you think about it, $75 is less than 3 average trips to a restaurant.

So here is a sample of how I schedule my diet planning:

-On Monday evening, I discuss with Mitch what he wants to eat for the upcoming week.  (The only meals we actually cook every day are breakfast and dinner.  The rest of our meals are already prepped.)

-On Tuesday afternoon we go to the grocery store with our list.  This process usually takes an hour from start to finish.  Always on the list-skinless boneless chicken breast, tuna, spinach, brown rice/quinoa, almond milk, steel cut oats, egg whites, fruit…..

-Tuesday evening or Wednesday, we put 6 lbs of chicken in the crock pot to cook.  You can do this before you go to work, or before you go to run errands. ( This is where I get annoyed with people who say they have no time to meal prep.  Really??  You don’t have time to open a pack of chicken and put it in a slow cooker with some  water?  )  I also cook up my rice/quinoa for the week.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Prepping things this way makes meals as easy as grabbing a handful of shredded chicken and weighing it to your specifications.  Or grabbing a 2/3C measuring cup and scooping out your grains.  Throw those in a tupperware together with a big handful of spinach.  When it’s time to eat, throw on a splash of teriyaki and microwave for a minute and a half.  Done.  There is lunch.

It also is helpful to get in the habit of eating basically the same thing every day except for dinner.  I know it sounds boring, but once your body gets used to it, it starts to crave these meals.

Weaning your body off of these processed, sugar and preservative filled crap foods is going to physically be a challenge as well.  Just like a heroin addict, your body is going to detox off sugar.  I promise.  You will feel like crap.  You’re going to feel off.  Maybe get headaches.  Maybe even sick.  this is your body withdrawing from the unnatural junk it’s been used to.  But don’t despair.  It only lasts a few days.  And then your body is going to start rejecting the bad stuff.  These days, if I eat things I’m not supposed to, my body physically rejects it.  I can’t eat red meat more than 3 times a month.  Dairy makes me violently ill.  If I eat pasta I will bloat to the point that my pants don’t fit.  I am completely, physically miserable.

This doesn’t mean you have to eat boring, bland brown rice and chicken every day.  It just means educating yourself on healthy substitutions!  For example–

Say you heat up a packet of microwave quaker oats every morning.  INSTEAD, scoop out 1/4C of steel cut organic oats into a small pot with 1C of water.  Once it starts to boil, it only takes around 10 mins to cook.  In that time you can be cooking a healthy egg scramble, making your coffee or even blowdrying your hair.  Add a spoonful of vanilla greek yogurt, 1 packet of stevia and 1/4C of fresh blueberries for berries and cream flavored.  Or a dash of cinnamon sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup for maple brown sugar flavored.

OR

If it’s burgers you crave–prep a 1lb pack of 93% lean ground turkey into 4 4oz patties.  I like to mix up my meat with a few dashes of low sodium Dale’s and a tablespoon of burger seasoning (seasoned salt, pepper, garlic powder).  Throw them on the grill or skillet with some nonstick and serve them on a toasted whole wheat english muffin or high fiber bread loaded with greens and tomatoes

French fries- don’t buy a bag of frozen crap.  Slice a potato, toss in olive oil, sea salt, pepper.  bake for 20 mins on 425 degrees.  finish off under the broiler for a couple minutes to get that crisp outside layer.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

The goal for changing the way you eat is to eliminate all the unneeded fillers and crap and stick to minimal wholesome ingredients.  When eating, less is more.  Give it a shot.  I promise you’ll feel better and look better!

Kickstarting the summer!

The Appalachian BarbieLeave a comment

Hey y’all! I hope you’re all winding down your weekend in the most comfortable of ways and preparing yourselves for a fresh new week ahead.  I’m personally folded up Indian style under a blanket in my most comfy VS sweats on the couch with my 2 sweet fur babies snoozing in my lap and I could only be happier if my honey wasn’t working.  Time is flying by so fast, we’re already almost 2 weeks into May and I’ve hardly had time to look around and savor the final fleeting moments of spring before the summer’s heat steals it’s innocence.  One thing that was consuming a lot of my time was the “Mr.Tipton Street Pageant,” a charity event I organized at work for our local animal shelter.  A former employee and myself came up with the idea of a “man pageant” for average Joes last year as a way to get people into the bar and to raise money for a good cause.  It turned out to be a smashing success so I decided to make it an annual event, this year with a Kentucky Derby theme.  I started work on this thing the first of February and am very proud to say my solo efforts were able to raise almost $550 in cash and tons of donated items for the Washington County Animal Shelter.

Flier for the event I organized
Flier for the event I organized
My managers at the pub with all the donated items
My managers at the pub with some of the donated items
Me gifting a shelter employee with a check for the money we raised
Me gifting a shelter employee with a check for the money we raised

As stressful as it was putting on this whole to-do, I really learned a lot and actually used that Bachelor’s in PR and Advertising that I earned way back in college.  And most importantly, it felt really good to be able to give back to an organization that is so close to my heart.

I also achieved another milestone in my fitness journey recently, finally breaking the 150lb curse and dipping to 149lb.  Only 9 more pounds to go and I will have reached my goal weight!  I am finally seeing progress and other people are starting to notice as well.  I read somewhere once that it takes 4 weeks for YOU to notice a change, 8 weeks for the people around you to notice, and 12 for everyone else, and it is so true!  I really got serious about my health for Lent, so it’s been exactly 2 months and my whole outlook has changed.  Going to the gym used to be as dreaded as my yearly checkup with my gyno.  Now, I almost look forward to it.  Well, let’s not get carried away.  I don’t look forward to it so much as I just don’t want to miss.  And I love seeing the changes in my body! I’ve never had arm muscles, so it’s kinda cool to be able to flex like a douche.  I’m going to stay with Christian at the beach in one month and I would love to be at my goal weight by then but I’m not gonna kill myself.  All good things in all good time!

This was such a big deal..
This was such a big deal…Please ignore my ratchet toenails.
Lunch is served! Delicious spinach and cucumber salad with cherry tomatoes and blackberries, drizzled with a citrus poppyseed vinaigrette.
Lunch is served! Delicious spinach and cucumber salad with cherry tomatoes and blackberries, drizzled with a citrus poppyseed vinaigrette.
Healthy dinner: 4oz ribeye on the grill with a big salad and my own yummy apple, pear, plum puree!
Healthy dinner: 4oz ribeye on the grill with a big salad and my own yummy apple, pear, plum puree!

One of the best things about getting fit is how much better I look in clothes.  I’ve really enjoyed getting cute new outfits and accessories for the gym, and even splurged on a few everyday things as well.

Booty and triceps!!
Booty and triceps!!
New Betsy Johnson backpack....perfect gym bag
New Betsy Johnson backpack….perfect gym bag
Seriously in love with this maxi dress
Seriously in love with this maxi dress
Does it get any easier than throwing on a simple breezy dress for a summer night out? The unique detail on this halter neckline really gives this dress some character!
Does it get any easier than throwing on a simple breezy dress for a summer night out? The unique detail on this halter neckline really gives this dress some character!
It was a basic black tank and edgy accessories for date night with my babe this week
It was a basic black tank and edgy accessories for date night with my babe this week
My biggest (and most needed) splurge--some wireless headphones. Who cares if they make me look like zoolander?!
My biggest (and most needed) splurge–some wireless headphones. Who cares if they make me look like zoolander?!

Finally today was Mother’s Day, and I couldn’t end this post without talking about what a wonderful day we had.  Mitch and I were able to take the mom’s plus my dad out for brunch this morning at the Bonnie Kate Cafe.  It was beautiful as usual.  The food was delicious and the presentation was on point.  When it comes to a great dining experience, it really is all about the tiny little details.  Like the fresh mint leaf garnish in your water or tea.  Small and inexpensive, but it makes basic tapwater seem so much more elegant.  This cafe is such a hidden gem in my little hometown.

My beautiful mother and me on Mother's Day.
My beautiful mother and me on Mother’s Day.
Mitch and his mother outside the Bonnie Kate
Mitch and his mother outside the Bonnie Kate

So far this summer is off to an awesome and exciting start!  I hope you all have as many exciting things to keep you busy this summer as I do–and if you don’t, then just kick back and enjoy it next to some water!

Marching into spring

The Appalachian BarbieLeave a comment

Good morning!  I’m sitting here drinking my morning tea with the sunshine streaming through my windows and listening to the birds chirp.  Even though it’s still pretty chilly outside, just like the birds, I can feel spring moving in.  And time is FLYING by.  I can”t believe it’s already been 2 months since I started this little online journal.  Pretty soon it’ll be 90 degrees outside and everyone will be bitching and whining for cooler weather on Facebook (why can’t people just be happy :-/ )

This week I got around to bringing a little spring into the house.  I changed my Bath & Body Works Wallflowers from “Leaves” to “Coconut Leaves!” I mopped my floors, opened my windows and let in some fresh air.  And I changed out my dining room roses for a beautiful arrangement of astro’s and tulips.  Nothing says spring time like tulips, and in white, they are so chic.

A spring bouquet for the dining room
A spring bouquet for the dining room

Also, yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which means Lent is upon us.  I’m not Catholic, but I’ll take any excuse to better my diet, so for the next 39 days, I’m cutting the carbs!  This really isn’t a major change for me, I’m just enforcing my existing diet beliefs.  I guess the best way to describe my diet would be Paleo, but I hate to associate myself with the Crossfit cult, no offense to any crossfitters, I just don’t do it, but more power to ya.  I guess I’m a Naturalist.  I feel that the best way to eat is the way my ancestors did–by eating things that can be consumed in their rawest form from nature.  Lots of chicken and fish, with red meat maybe once a week and pork every other week,  (I don’t have any kind of moral issues with red meat and pork, I’ve just found that when I’m eating really clean, my body has a hard time breaking those things down, and since I want to listen to my body, I probably should limit my intake of them.)  I compliment my protein with plenty of fruits and veggies.  Leafy greens, broccoli/cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, eggplant, asparagus, all the squashes, peppers and onions, garlic, avocado and cabbage are some of my favorite veggies.  On the fruit side I love any kind of berries, kiwi, melons, pineapple, grapefruit, grapes, and  tangerines.  I try to stay away from carrots, corn, potatoes and bananas, as these contain a lot of sugar and honestly, I just hate the texture of bananas.  For snacking, I try to stick to nuts, raw walnuts and almonds preferably, nut butters, hummus and occasionally 1/4 cup servings of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt.  I’ve tried to quit dairy all the way around, but I’m a sucker for good cheese and can’t pass up my smattering of feta on my eggs in the mornings.  Hey, YOLO.  I have not drank milk in over a year now and am now apparently lactose intolerant.  However, I absolutely LOVE almond milk.  There is a reason why the Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla almond milk is always sold out at my grocery store.  It’s delicious AND it only has 30 calories in an 8oz serving!

Typical breakfast
Typical breakfast

 

With all that being said about my diet BELIEFS, just like any believer, in my day-to-day life I falter.  My diet REALITY is a lot more lax than just that nice little list up there.  It’s hard to work in a pub where you’re frying delicious hand-cut french fries and not snag one or two.  Off every order.  And pretty soon those add up to an order within themselves.  Or to tell the sweet old war vet who brings me cookies n’ cream ice cream that I can’t eat it because I’m dieting.   Or cheesecake.  For God’s sake.  I’ll never be able to pass on cheesecake.  As I’ve become more in tune with my body over the past few months, I’ve really learned a lot about myself.  For example, as the day goes on I lose motivation.  I’m a morning person.  I wake up with all the ambition in the world.  I don’t have food cravings and I get. stuff. done.  However, the later in the day it gets, the worse my sweet tooth is, and the less likely I am to stick to goals and you can forget about the gym.  Seriously, if I’m not at the gym before 1pm, it’s not gonna happen.  And I normally don’t go in to work until 9pm! So imagine how hard it is to not hit the late night diner that serves homemade gourmet cheesecakes until 5am with all my co-workers after a long night of slinging drinks!  But I am a firm believer in the 90/10 rule of eating well and exercising 90% of the time so the other 10% can be spent being a disgusting fat slob.

I really need to get it together though since Mitch and I are going on our spring vacation next week to the beach.  I absolutely can’t wait.  One of my best friends moved to Myrtle Beach right after we graduated high school and even after almost 10 years, is still nice enough to put me up when I get a little spare cash and can manage to get away from work for a few days.  With that being said, I’ve spent a lot of time in the ol’ Dirty Myrtle, but since Mitch is going with me this time and he’s not a big drinker or partyer, I wanted to plan some really fun stuff that even I’ve never done before.  For instance, one day we are driving down to Georgetown and touring Hopsewee Plantation.  I’m obsessed with Southern history and am sure the tour of the house and the following afternoon tea will not disappoint.  I’m also excited to get down to the Inlet and enjoy some fresh seafood.  JUST NO HUSH PUFFIES!

Mitch and I on our last beach trip
Mitch and I on our last beach trip

I hope everyone is as excited as myself for the upcoming season.  As much as I try to be thankful and enjoy every day, there’s just something so fresh and new and exciting about spring.  With everything in nature stirring and coming to life, I can’t help but feel the same on the inside.  Hopefully I’ll have some time to update from the beach.  Until then, everyone carpe diem!

 

A life without noodles…..

The Appalachian Barbie2 Comments

As a girl who has been watching her figure the better part of her life, I have learned quite a few tricks for getting around pesky, unneeded calories without giving up my favorite foods and flavor.  One thing I decided to get rid of for good is noodles.  I know they are a mainstay of every pasta dish.  But to me, they are flavorless fillers that just make me bloated and miserable after they digest.  Not to mention a mere 2 ounces pack a 200 calorie punch and most people consume twice that unknowingly!  A noodle is nothing more than a processed wheat product that takes on the FLAVOR of whatever you put on it –that’s where all the taste is!  So over the years I have learned to alter my recipes and cut down my calorie intake at least a third.  Since this is something I get asked about quite a bit, AND I made lasagna last night, here are a few of my quick and easy Italian go-to’s.

-When making spaghetti, sub spaghetti squash.  One whole cup of cooked spaghetti squash only has around 42 calories and 10 carbs! There are several ways of cooking a spaghetti squash, but the easiest way I’ve found of doing it is by poking it all over with a metal skewer and roasting it on a cookie sheet on 375 until it’s fork tender.  For god’s sake, PLEASE REMEMBER TO POKE IT OR IT WILL EXPLODE!!  After it’s cooled enough that I can touch it, I just slice it down the middle, remove the seeds and then, with the tines of a fork, start scraping up the “noodles.”  It’s just as easy as boiling traditional spaghetti! Once you top it with your favorite yummy spaghetti sauce, you’re guaranteed to not miss a thing!

Baked spaghetti squash
Baked spaghetti squash

-In place of fettuccine style noodles, I will often julienne a zucchini and steam it for just a few minutes on the stove top with a bit of my house spice–salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Just don’t let it go too long or they will get mushy and disintegrate!   They make tools to create pasta out of veggies, but I simply use a vegetable peeler.  It’s whatever you prefer! Oh and did I mention, one medium zucchini only has 33 calories?!

zucchini

-Finally, my favorite Italian noodle-less meal, AND what I made for dinner last night–Lasagna with eggplant noodles!  So good you won’t even realize there isn’t a starch!  Because this is one of my favorite meals, I’ll just give you my entire recipe.  But please, be creative!  Play around with flavors!  What works for me might not be your cup of tea and that’s ok!

Appalachian Barbie Lasagna

  • 1/2 lb ground sirloin
  • 1/2 mild Italian sausage
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 1/2 bell pepper, diced
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 jar spaghetti sauce
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 2 15oz containers of small curd cottage cheese
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella (divided)
  • 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese (divided)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 eggplants, sliced thinly to 1/4″ thickness
  • spices- salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning

Begin by pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees and letting your sauce pan heat up with around a teaspoon of olive oil while you’re dicing and mincing your veggies.  To sauce pan, add meats, peppers, onions and garlic cloves.  Cook over medium heat, crumbling meat until it is cooked through and no longer pink.  While this is cooking, begin slicing your eggplants lengthwise to no more than 1/4″ thickness.  Place them on cookie sheets, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and italian seasoning and pop them in the oven to roast.  You don’t want to over cook these, as they will disintegrate pretty easily.  So around 5 minutes should do the trick but keep an eye on them.  You just want them to be pliable!

After your meat mixture is cooked, add spices to taste, 1 jar of pasta sauce and 1/2 cup of water.  Reduce heat, cover and let simmer while you’re preparing your cheese mixture.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 eggs, lightly beaten, cottage cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of parmesan.  Add 1tsp of italian seasoning and stir together.  Now it’s time to  build your lasagna!

Begin by spooning about a 1/2 cup of sauce mixture onto bottom of 8×8″ pan.  Next, layer eggplant “noodles,” covering bottom.  Spoon half of cheese mixture on top of “noodles.” Repeat sauce, “noodles”, cheese.  Add one more layer of “noodles,” top with sauce and cover with the 1 cup of shredded mozzarella and 1/4 cup of parmesan you reserved from earlier. Lower oven to 365, wrap lasagna tightly in foil and let it cook for about 45 minutes.  If you would like, sometimes I will let it cook uncovered the last 5-10 minutes so the cheese gets a nice browning on top.  Make sure to let your lasagna set for around 20 minutes before serving.  This will help keep it from falling apart when you cut it.  And you won’t burn your mouth like a fat kid!

Because of my honey’s intense weight training, he can carbo-load with no worries.  So last night I made a full size regular lasagna for him and a little mini eggplant lasagna for me.  It worked out perfectly and we both have leftovers!

Pre-oven baby lasagna!
Pre-oven baby lasagna!
His and hers lasagna!
His and hers lasagna!

I hope this article inspires you to try a few noodle-less dishes!  The only difference I can tell is that the dishes are a bit wetter because there isn’t any bread to soak up all the juice.  Let me know what you think!

Healthy life, happy couple

The Appalachian BarbieLeave a comment

Phew! What a busy week I’ve had!  If you’re familiar with the service industry, you know that “Friday night-Sunday night” weekends are irrelevant, and are actually a bartender’s busiest days.  My weekends begin when I get home from my Tuesday night shift, which technically doesn’t end until around 4am on Wednesday morning.  Then I have until Friday night at 9pm to do WHATEVER I WANT!!!  Yeah right.  The more of an adult I become, the more I realize days off are only for getting ALL that stuff done around the house that you don’t have time to do through the week.  Especially when your boyfriend is a bodybuilder and eats for 3.  There’s always grocery shopping and food prep to be done on top of the dishes and laundry.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Your health is nothing to gamble on and I was slapped in the face with that fact twice this week.  Unfortunately I had one of my favorite restaurant regulars pass away and another bar regular has ended up in the hospital with complications from diabetes and pneumonia.  Living a healthy lifestyle is so important.  You really are what you eat.  And if you want to see how true that is, take a little stroll through your local Walmart and just observe the correlation of what is in a person’s buggy and their size.  It’s disgusting.  Eat better, feel better, look better.  It’s really that simple.

So on Tuesday I made my weekly pilgrimage to Kroger for groceries and a gas fill-up.  I only buy groceries once a week, so I have to meal plan around both our work schedules.  And if something runs out or I don’t get it, it’s tough titty said the kitty!  I typically spend between $100-$200/wk, depending on what is on sale and what we’re out of.  But some things are a weekly staple, like eggs for example.  Between the 4 egg whites I have for breakfast every day and the 6 whole eggs that Mitch is currently eating, we’re about to go egg poor.  I bet I look like a crazy person coming through the line with 60 eggs!

Our weekly grocery supply. Please note those peanut butter poptarts and double stuff oreos belong to a certain 245lb bodybuilder I know and not me.
Our weekly grocery supply. Please note those peanut butter poptarts and double stuff oreos belong to a certain 245lb bodybuilder I know and not me.

So a lot of my favorite recipes are things that I have thrown together at the spur of the moment and only take around 15 minutes to make.  My apple/gouda chicken sausage hash and sweet and spicy stir fry are two such recipes that I happened to make this week.  Both are ridiculously healthy, natural and filling meals and cost very little to make.  Here are the recipes.  I hope you enjoy!

Kathie’s Chicken Sausage and Sweet Potato Hash

Served here with organic green beans
Served here with organic green beans

1 package of Hormel Natural Choice Apple Gouda Chicken Sausages, sliced into rounds

2 medium sized sweet potatoes, diced to bite size

Caribbean Jerk seasoning

Spray skillet with nonstick spray liberally and heat over medium.  Add diced sweet potatoes and sprinkle with Caribbean jerk seasoning.  Add sliced sausages and add more seasoning to taste.  Cook covered, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are fork tender and glazed.  Serve with a green veggie on side.

Kathie’s Sweet and Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

0051-1 1/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

half of a green bell pepper, half of a red bell pepper, sliced into strips

half of a medium onion, sliced into strips

half of a fresh pineapple, cored and cut into bite sized chunks

7 or so asparagus spears, white ends discarded, and chopped into 1″ long sticks

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt

pepper

garlic powder

sweet chili sauce

soy sauce

Toss first 6 ingredients into a deep pan that has been sprayed liberally with nonstick.  cook over medium heat.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  When chicken is almost cooked through, add sweet chili and soy sauces to taste.  (*note, tis better to err on the side of too little soy and add to it, than to put too much and ruin the dish.  Soy sauce is extremely salty and it’s hard to recover from putting too much in.)  This dish will be pretty juicy from the sweet chili sauce and pineapples.  All the better!  Serve with brown rice and let it soak up all that delicious flavor!  yum!

Bon apetit!