healthy

Sweet Potato Pancakes

~ laurensleankitchen ~ 4 Comments

sweet potato cakesAfter I made my Super Sweet Potato Skins for the Super Bowl, I was left with some extra sweet potato filling. I HATE wasting food, so I turned to the internet to figure out what the heck I could do with the extras.

I found this recipe for sweet potato pancakes, and I figured I would give it a shot. I am SO happy I decided to get adventurous!

What you need:

  • 1/2 cup sweet potato, microwaved until soft and mashed (However, I used about 1 1/2 cups of sweet potato that was leftover from my skins)
  • 2 eggs (you might be able to get away with 1-will try the next time I make these)
  • 1 tbsp almond meal
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (add only if you are not using extra from the skins recipe- this was already added)
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla (same as the cinnamon)
  • coconut oil, for pan

Mix all the ingredients, except for the coconut oil, in a large bowl. Sweet potatoes should actually be counted as a carb, so I used my yellow 21DF container to measure the servings.

The first one I made was wayyyyy too big, so I cut it back to 1/2 a yellow container.

Heat a pan with a tablespoon of coconut oil, and then use the yellow container (or about 1/4 cup) to measure out your servings. This mix made about 12 pancakes.

The batter came out very runny, so I let the pancakes cook for a few minutes on each side trying to firm them up some. Cook these as you would a regular pancake.

They certainly did not come out like the pancakes in the photo from the original recipe (do they ever?), but they sure were a delicious treat. I did not have to serve them with any additional toppings. They were sweet enough to satisfy any craving!

I served the pancakes as a side to my open-faced Turkey and Portobello Mushroom Burgers (stay tuned for the recipe).

21DF peeps: 2 pancakes= 1 yellow

Pizza, Pizza!

~ laurensleankitchen ~ 2 Comments

Chocolate CakeI’m Italian. Pizza is easily one of my favorite foods. If you don’t like pizza, we won’t be friends. No, seriously; my favorite restaurants in the city are no doubt places like Marta, Keste, and our neighborhood favorite, Salvo’s.  If you aren’t on a “getting lean” mission like I am, go there. If you are, just trust me, they are amazing. We will reunite someday….

Sorry, I  got off topic.

Anyway, in an effort to get lean in the kitchen, and make some crave-worthy food, I decided to jump on this spaghetti squash bandwagon I have been avoiding.

I just wasn’t grasping the concept of how a squash could actually pass off as a “pasta” or “pizza”. But, since we were getting lean, I knew I had to give it a shot.

I have made numerous spaghetti squash recipes, and I can’t wait to share them with you!

But to start, I am going to let you in on our FAVORITE one: spaghetti squash pizza. This recipe actually inspired me to start this blog. After I posted a picture of it on Instagram, I received so many texts asking for the recipe.

As always, this is an EASY recipe, and can be adjusted to what you have on hand.

Cook time: 45 minutes

Serving size: 2

What you need:

1 medium/large spaghetti squash (ultimately, you want at least 3 cups of cooked squash)

1.5 cups of lean meat (here I use Trader Joe’s soy chorizo-it’s amazeballs-see pic below)

1 cup tomato sauce (low sodium/sugar)

1 cup of raw greens (I like to use spinach or kale)

1/2 cup of part-skim mozzarella

2 eggs

1/2 tsp of oregano

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1/4 tsp of paprika

parchment paper

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give for anyone wanted to make any spaghetti squash dish is cook the squash ahead of time.

I cook the squash at 350 for about an hour. Mostly because i’m running around the apartment doing other things, and probably cooking at least 2 or 3, but it does need a good while to cook through. If you anticipate making any squash dish during the week, just get this part out of the way. It will seriously cut down on the weekday cook time.

First, mix the squash, eggs, and spices together until combined. Transfer the “dough” onto the parchment paper, and smooth out to the shape of a pizza. Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes.

While this is cooking, you can get your toppings ready. We are OBSESSED with Trader Joe’s soy chorizo. I have been using this as our topping because it adds a little more flavor to the pizza. However, you can use whatever “meat” you’d like. I just heat it on the stove for a few minutes until it is cooked through

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I then gather up the kale and cheese, so we are ready to go once the “crust” is ready.

When the squash is ready, remove from the oven and evenly distribute your toppings.

Throw back in the oven for about 12-15 minutes.

DISCLAIMER: this is a fork and knife pizza! I have not yet perfected the crust so that it is crispy, so stayed tuned!

This is probably one of the most guilt-free dishes I have ever made. I can literally eat a full half of this and it counts for almost nothing since it mostly comprised of veggies!

Once again, this is a dish you can make your own. Feel free to add whatever you favorite topping is, but make sure to go easy on the cheese (I know, that’s the best part), but that is where the calories are going to come into play here.

Let me know if you try this recipe!

21DF peeps:

Half a pizza equals-2 green, 1/2 purple, 1 red, 1 blue

 

Deciding to get lean

~ laurensleankitchen ~ 2 Comments

Love yourself enoughPete and I got engaged on November 7, 2015. I knew right away that it would have to be game on for our wedding diet!

My entire life, I have yo-yoed with my weight. I would lose a few pounds, sustain for a bit, but the second I would allow myself to “cheat” I would gain back my weight, and then some.

I was tired of all of the ups and downs.

I knew the wedding “diet” would have to be something more than just an unsustainable fad. It would have to be a lifestyle change.

In the year prior to getting engaged, I ran 5 half marathons, and 1 full marathon. Running kept me on the “slim” side, but I was eating whatever I pleased because I knew I was burning so many calories. I was getting frustrated as to why I wasn’t seeing a bigger change (hmmmm, wonder why?).

Obviously, how I was feeding myself was not working. I needed to start from scratch. I needed to start all over and relearn the basics of portion control, and what foods I should be taking in on a daily basis.

I had seen some people posting about 21 Day Fix (21DF) on Facebook, and after some research on the program, I was sold. I ordered my program and was ready to go! 30 minutes a day of working out was nothing! Shoot, I ran a marathon in 6 hours and 20 minutes; working out for 30 minutes is CAKE!

Beachbody offers free coaches, and since I’m a sucker for anything free, I signed up.

Within a day I was connected with a wonderful coach named Julie.  I immediately joined her Facebook challenge group. A Beachbody Facebook challenge group is designed to help support others while they are completing various Beachbody programs, share success, share defeats, keep each other accountable, and share recipes.

I quickly realized that this wasn’t a diet, but it was a lifestyle change.

In pressing the “restart” button on my eating habits, I turned to Pinterest for some 21DF recipe help. Although I found some recipes, there was not a ton available that incorporated the ingredients and portions I was looking for. I found myself adjusting the recipes to fit what was going to suit my needs best.

I started making a few new recipes incorporating healthy ingredients with the right portion sizes. And, of course, I made sure that these meals would still be crave-worthy.

Not only do the recipes need to be healthy and crave-worthy, they need to be EASY. I’m a working lady, so meals during the week need to have few recipes, which in turn, do not have a lot of expensive ingredients.

So here we are.

While I am on my own journey to stay lean in the kitchen, and improve my physical condition, I hope that this blog will help others get creative with healthy foods and live a lean lifestyle.