Quinoa Salad

QUINOA SALAD

(Makes 6 servings, 1 cup per serving)

Another one of the favourite things to make on a Sunday and enjoy all week!

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, uncooked 

1 medium tomato, finely chopped 

2 cucumbers, finely chopped 

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded & finely chopped 

2 tbsp red onion, finely chopped 

1/2 cup parsley or cilantro, finely chopped 

10 Kalamata olives, pitted & cut in halves 

1 lemon or lime, juice of
1 tbsp olive oil 

2 tsp cumin 

1 tsp black pepper 

1 tbsp garlic powder


Directions 

Cook quinoa al dente. Use ratio of 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water (you can use less water for firmer quinoa if desired). 

Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed 

Add all ingredients to a large salad bowl and gently mix just enough to combine. 

Optional: make dressing separately by whisking together olive oil, lemon (lime) juice, cumin, black pepper and garlic powder in a small bowl.

Serve cold.

"Clean" Melt-in-your-mouth Chicken

This is another super simple (are you noticing a theme here with my recipes and being simple? haha) super DELICIOUS chicken recipe... It tastes like you are eating something that is just awful for you and high in fat and calories, but it's really not! 

"Clean" Melt-in-your-mouth Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 - 4 oz skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• pink himilayan salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit
2. Lay foil in a baking dish and spray with non-stick spray and place chicken in dish
3. Combine greek yogurt, cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl
4. Coat each chicken breast in greek yogurt mixture
5. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until cooked through

Noodle-less Lasagna

Who doesn't love lasagna??  I know I do!!  It is definitely one of my favourite comfort foods, however it is so high in calories that it's definitely been forever removed off my menu (except for maybe the occasional treat night).

Well, I introduce to you - NOODLE-LESS LASAGNA!  That's right... it's all the deliciousness of lasagna with NO pasta!

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 medium Zucchini's, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 lb of lean ground turkey
• 1/2 a medium yellow onion
• 2 tsp diced garlic
• pink himalayan salt, black pepper and garlic powder to taste
• pasta sauce of choice
• 24 oz of cottage cheese
• shredded mozza cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degress Farenheit
2. In a skillet on medium-high heat add ground turkey, onion, garlic and seasonings and cook until turkey is browned and cooked through
   
3. add about 1/2 cup of pasta sauce and mix into the turkey mixture
   
4. Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray and lay the first layer of zucchini "noodles" just like you would lasagna noodles
   
5. add half of the turkey mixture on top of the "zoodles"
6. add half of the cottage cheese on top of the meat mixture
   
7. repeat steps 4, 5 and 6 ending with a third layer of zucchini noodles on top
8. spread about 1/4 cup of pasta sauce (just a thin layer) on top of the zucchini
   
9. sprinkle your cheese on and cover with tin foil
10. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 45 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes until cheese is a bit browned
11. Serve and enjoy! 

Couple things I will change for next time... 

It was quite watery from the zucchini... I googled how to help that and I read that if you "salt" the zucchini"noodles" for about an hour before hand it will pull the moisture out of the zucchini!  Basically just put the zoodles into a colander, sprinkle salt on top and toss it around until they are evenly covered... leave the colander over a bowl to collect the water that gets pulled out... after about an hour place the zoodles on paper tower to wipe away any moisture left... I will update this post once I try this :) 

Otherwise though, the taste was PHENOMENAL!  It was so very delicious!!!  The water wasn't that bad of a thing, just made it a bit more difficult to cut and scoop out regular pieces :)  I actually showed me making it in this vlog too :)

How to Meal Plan!

So I know that one of things that can MAKE or BREAK your success in your weight loss and fitness journey is meal planning.  

We've all heard this familiar quote:

Honestly, this quote annoys me... Not because it's not true (it is 100% true) but because I am not the planning type.  One of my biggest hurdles in my own journey is meal planning, but when I do it the reward is amazing because I feel better, my clothes fit better, I have more energy, etc,etc,etc.  It is also nice to not have to just "wing it" during the week with what I'm gonna eat! 

So since this is an area a lot of people struggle in I decided to share with you my SUPER SIMPLE steps to creating your meal plan!  I have meal plans that I like to provide my clients, but I find that it's better to make it yourself because then you will put on it foods that you enjoy and are more likely to stick with it :)  (note: I am not a nutritionist or a certified dietician, this is simply what I do and have done to meal plan in the past :) ) 

1. Grab a notebook and a pen (or just a blank piece of paper would work too) 
2. Get a source for your foods - ie. if you are calorie counting open up My Fitness Pal or whatever you use to calorie count that has a good food database - this will prevent you from having to get up a million times and dig through the pantry and fridge to find calories in foods.
3. Figure out how many calories or servings of food you will want to "save" for dinner each day first off (hint: if you are calorie counting and following a 1200-1500 calorie base, I recommend trying to keep Breakfast, Lunch and dinner around 300-400 calories and snacks around 100-200 calories)
4. Start creating your meal plan - I usually give myself two options for each Breakfast, AM Snack, Lunch and PM snack so I can switch it up throughout the week - you do not want to try and come up with 7 different breakfasts, snacks and lunches - that would take you way too long, be way too overwhelming and cost you way too many groceries!! Remember we want you to follow through on this so keep it simple! 
5. As you are coming up with the items you are going to have for each meal/snack go into My Fitness Pal (if you're calorie counting) to add up the calories as you go.  Or if you are using another meal plan, just count for each item as you go! 
6. Then comes the fun part!  Make up 7 different dinners!  I usually try to have one fish, one red meat and one pork each week and then keep the rest chicken or ground turkey... Need recipe ideas?  Check out the recipes page here or some of my favourite sites for recipes are skinnytaste.com and thegraciouspantry.com
7. Create your grocery list!  I usually do it as I go, especially if I am trying new recipes and there are ingredients in the recipe I need to get as well!  
8. THAT'S IT!  head out the grocery store with your list in hand and grab all you need for the week!  This will prevent you from needing to run to the store mid-week... Want to see more in depth how I meal plan?  Watch my video!