21-Day Fix Approved Stuffed Bell Peppers

This recipe is proof that clean and healthy eating isn't boring or tasteless!!! These are delicious and 21-Day Fix approved - what could be better than that? This recipe called for brown rice, but I love quinoa and decided to sub it in for brown rice.

6 bell peppers - tops and seeds removed
1 lb ground turkey meat
1 chopped onion
1 cup quinoa
20 oz  reduced sugar marinara sauce
5 cloves of chopped garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasonings (oregano, basil)

 Cook quinoa according to package and brown turkey meat with chopped onion. Mix quinoa, browned turkey, onion, marinara, garlic, salt & peppers, and Italian seasonings together.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place empty peppers in pan and bake for 10 minutes. Removed peppers from oven and stuff with meat and quinoa mixture; top with cheese if desired.
Bake for another 25-30 minutes.

Let stand for 5 minutes, and enjoy!
xxoo

This makes 6 servings (1 pepper = 1 serving)
1 serving = 1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 purple

Paleo fudge

Ever try a recipe and think "where has this been all my life?" - this is one. Seriously
I was having a major chocolate craving (not unusual) and I found this recipe on Pinterest Practical Paleo and I am so glad I did. Tears of joy!
These have only 5 (!) ingredients. In hindsight I should have made these in mini muffin pans so they would be bite sized and last longer (haha). These aren't the prettiest but seriously amazing.

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup smooth almond butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor or blender until smooth. Pour into paper-lined muffin pan cups until 1/2 inch full. Chill in freezer for 10 minutes or fridge for 30. When firm remove and enjoy. Keep the remainder (if you have any) in the fridge in a sealed container.

xxoo

Eating Clean Chicken Noodle Soup in a Slow Cooker

This is perfect for a cold, snowy day like today! This took 5 minutes of prep time (I bought pre-chopped onion) and is lean and clean! I am also a huge slow cooker fan so this recipe fit me perfectly. The original recipe I am altering called for chopped celery, but I am really not a celery fan so I decided to substitute mushrooms.

- 2 lbs raw chicken cut into 2 inch pieces
- 6 cups of low sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups chopped mushrooms
- 4 cups chopped carrots
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- a dash of sea salt
- 8 ounces of whole wheat pasta

Add everything (except noodles) to slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. During the last hour of cooking the noodles can be added to the soup and then cooked for an hour before serving OR the noodles can be cooked separately and added in during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Enjoy!

xxoo

Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip

This is one of my favorite dips of all time. I can still remember the first time I had it - one bite and I was hooked. This is my super skinny version!

- 8 oz cooked shredded chicken
- 8 oz fat free plain Greek yogurt
- 8 oz softened fat free cream cheese
- 1/2 packet Ranch seasoning
- 2/3 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
- 1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese shredded

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes or until hot in center. Let cool for 5 minutes before enjoying with baked chips, Pita chips, or raw carrots and broccoli.
xxoo

Crunchy Buffalo Cauliflower

My boyfriend is a HUGE buffalo wing fanatic - he could eat them everyday and never get sick of them. Needles to say we eat a lot of hot sauce in this household. For the Super Bowl I wanted to make some healthy snacks to watch during the game. Now I know that nothing can ever really replace hot wings, but these were pretty dang tasty. So easy to make and no guilt required.

- 6 cups cauliflower florets
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- Pam spray
- 3/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

Spray 8x8 baking dish with Pam. Spread cauliflower evenly in baking dish and spray liberally with Pam. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder on cauliflower. Bake 450F oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and pour hot sauce evenly over cauliflower. Bake for 5 more minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy with fat-free ranch or with crumbled blue cheese.

xxoo

Greek yogurt banana chocolate chip muffins

These are sooooo good and full of protein!! Perfect for breakfast or a pre-workout snack! I doctored this recipe to make it a smidge healthier, but they still won the "man-approval" award from my boyfriend :-) These would be great with blueberries or chopped walnuts instead of dark-chocolate too!

- 2 bananas
- 2 cups of old fashioned oats
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup plain fat-free greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup mini dark-chocolate chips (or whatever chocolate chips you desire)

Combine all ingredients (except chocolate chips) together and mix (with stand or hand mixer) on low until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Spoon mixture evenly into 12 muffin-tin baking liners. Bake at 400F for 17-20 minutes, and toothpick comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool for 10 minutes before enjoying. These are very moist so they should be kept in an airtight container in the fridge and should last up to a week.
Makes 12 muffins.

xxoo

These are the dark chocolate chips I prefer using!

Almond flour pancakes with blueberries

This morning was my 2nd round of experimenting with almond flour (almond meal). Since it was a very snowy Sunday I thought pancakes were in order for breakfast. Again, I found the base of this recipe online BUT I made some additions to better suite our taste buds.
While these aren't the prettiest pancakes I've ever made, they sure were yummy and filling. I made mine with blueberries, but bananas, strawberries, or plain would be great too!

- 1.5 cups almond flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup water
-1 cup unsweetend vanilla almond milk
- 2 T melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Cook like regular pancakes over medium heat on a non-stick skillet, and flip when a few bubbles start to form on top. This made about 6 small pancakes. Enjoy!

xxoo