Spaghetti Squash Baked Ziti

Another healthy home run!
This spaghetti squash baked ziti is perfect on a day when you are craving cheesy, yummy, Italian goodness.

I got the idea from the ladies over at idontgotothegym who are leading this 21 Day Fix Extreme Challenge group I'm in. They have some really great healthy recipe ideas. I took their idea for the spaghetti squash and did my own thing with it, so I'll tell you exactly what I did.

Spaghetti Squash Baked Ziti

Serves: 4
Calories per serving: 423
Time: about an hour start to finish, maybe less. 30 minutes prep, 30 min cook time.

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb Nature's promise ground turkey 94% lean
2.5 cups of Hunts no sugar added pasta sauce
1/4 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1 cup Shredded Italian pizza blend cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut spaghetti squash in half, place cut side up in shallow glass dish with 1 inch of water, microwave for 15 minutes. Let cool. *I had to cook each half separately because I didn't have a dish that fit both of them at once*.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil on med heat, add onion and garlic, cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until onions start to get tender. Add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. Set aside.
3. Using a fork, scrape out the "noodles" from the spaghetti squash into a large bowl (mine made about 5 cups, I used 4 in this recipe and saved the rest). Add salt and pepper to taste and mix.
4. Put 1/2 cup sauce on the bottom of an 8x8 pan. Then in layers, add 2 cups of spaghetti squash, 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, all of the meat, 1 cup sauce, 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, 2 cups spaghetti squash, 1 cup sauce, and top with the rest of the shredded cheese.
5. Cover with foil (try not to let the foil touch the top of the ziti because the cheese will stick to it) and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.
**Alternatively, you can just dump all of the ingredients (except for 1/2 cup of shredded cheese) and mix them together in the 8x8 pan, cook covered for 20 minutes, then add the cheese for the last 10 minutes of baking (uncovered).**

1/4 of this is a serving. It's a TON! So if you wanted to have a smaller portion, you could add a side salad. Personally, I wanted it eat it ALL, so I went for the full portion.

Low Calorie Stuffed Peppers - Amazeballs.

These stuffed peppers.

I can't even tell you how good they are.
Just make them.

Best part is, they are only 160 calories a piece without cheese. I chose to add about 1/8 of a cup of  2% sharp cheddar to each of mine because I love cheese and I think it's rude to cook without it. So each of mine had about 45 extra calories from the cheese. Still not bad for something that tasted so good.

I actually just altered a recipe I found on Pinterest because I like tomato sauce in my stuffed peppers and I'm partial to garlic, so I add it to pretty much everything.


Low Calorie Stuffed Peppers
Servings: 6
Time: Approximately 30-40 minutes total (I didn't really time it, but it was easy and didn't take long)

Ingredients:
3 bell peppers
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz. baby Bella mushrooms
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 pound 94% lean ground turkey
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. hot sauce (I used Tabasco Milder Jalapeño)
3/4 cup Hunts no added sugar pasta sauce
Salt/pepper to taste
1/8 cup of 2% shredded cheddar cheese per pepper *optional*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. De-seed peppers and cut in half length-wise. Place on a baking sheet covered in foil (just for easy clean up). Place in oven for about 15 minutes or until they start to feel tender.
3. Meanwhile, in large skillet, sauté the onions and mushrooms in the olive oil. When they are almost completely sautéed and mushrooms have lost most of their moisture, add the garlic and cook another minute or so. Then transfer to a bowl.
4. In the same skillet, cook the turkey until no longer pink. Then add the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, pasta sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until heated through. Add the cooked onions and mushrooms back in and mix it all together.
5. If there's any water in the center of the peppers, dump it out. Then, scoop equal amounts of the meat mixture into the pepper halves. If you are using cheese, sprinkle 1/8 cup on each pepper half. Place in oven just long enough to heat through and melt cheese.

ENJOY!!!  I had two and didn't make any sides because I really didn't think it was necessary, but this would obviously be great cut up over brown rice or quinoa.

Protein shake review: Shakeology versus 310 Nutrition Shake

So, you know by now that I'm doing the 21 Day Fix Extreme which is a Beachbody program and they recommend you use Shakeology with it for optimum results. I bit the bullet and bought a bag of the chocolate Shakeology and I have to say it has been a great way for me to get one of my protein portions in for the day.  The bonus is that it tastes VERY good and I'm not just saying that. It is REALLY tasty. It's also REALLY expensive. So I've been doing a little research on protein/meal replacement shakes to see if I can find anything comparable. Beachbody has a different meal replacement shake, that is much cheaper, but from the reviews, it sounds like the taste is not very pleasant. From what I've read, there is a strong aftertaste from artificial sweeteners, which is something I can't stand. My husband uses a shake from GNC that has a horrible aftertaste and I can't stomach it. So instead of opting to try the other Beachbody shake, I came across a shake from 310 Nutrition and decided to give it a try. It got decent reviews and some of the people, like me, had tried Shakeology and found this to be a similar product. So this post is going to be an honest, unbiased review, comparing the 310Nutrition shake versus Shakeology.

Here are the shakes, I got chocolate because I'm a chocolate kind of person. :)

 

 

 

First of all, I bought the Shakeology off of Craigslist for $90 so I spent much less than if I had bought it directly from their site. I think it costs about $130 to have it delivered to your house (a 30 day supply). I bought the 310Shake from their website and paid about $75 for a 28 day supply, including shipping. Both sites have options for automatic monthly shipping which saves you money. I ordered the 310 Shake yesterday and I received it today, so I was very impressed with the speed of their shipment/delivery! Shakeology comes out to about $4.39 per scoop and 310 Nutrition comes out to about $2.71 per scoop. This makes 310Nutrition a clear winner on price per scoop.

Now let's talk about the scoops. One scoop of Shakeology is 42 grams and one scoop of 310 is only 25.2 grams, so you are actually paying about the same price per GRAM. I hope that makes sense.

 

One thing that Shakeology definitely has over the 310Shake is all of the added fancy ingredients. 

Shakeology Chocolate label

 

310Nurtition label

 

 

Honestly, I'm not super concerned with fancy ingredients. What I'm concerned with are the calorie, fat, fiber, sugar, sodium and protein content.

 

Here's the breakdown per scoop:

Shakeology has 160 calories, 2 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugar, 170 mg of sodium, and 17 grams of protein.

310Nutrition has 90 calories, 1 gram of fat, 5 grams of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, 135 mg of sodium, and 15 grams of protein.

So, you give and take depending on what you're looking for. If you're looking for something to fully replace a meal, the Shakeology probably offers you more because it is higher in calories and I would think that would hold you over longer. However, I like to use my shake as a snack between meals, so a lower calorie option is actually pretty appealing to me, especially because it has essentially no sugar and they use stevia to sweeten it. And remember, the scoop size is different, so you're getting more protein in less product using 310.


Now, onto the most important part - TASTE!
When I drink Shakeology I add a half of a banana, 2 tsps of PB2, about a cup of water, and TONS of ice. So I decided to really compare the flavors I would make the 310 nutrition shake exactly the same way. 

The 310 shake is actually much lighter in color than shakeology.


 

 

My honest opinion of the taste: Shakeology is better, more decadent. Hands down. HOWEVER, 310 does not taste bad at all! It is just a lighter flavor, tastes less chocolatey and isn't quite as sweet. I'm not sure if this will make sense, but the 310 tastes more 'milky' to me and I was able to taste the banana and PB more in it versus the Shakeology. I will drink it again and next time I'm going to add less water since I like so much ice to see if it tastes a little more rich. My thought is that I probably watered it down a little, especially since the scoop itself is smaller and I used the same amount of additives that I use when I make a larger scoop of Shakeology. If that makes a big difference, I will update this review after I try adjusting it!

 

As for keeping you full, so far they seem comparable. I drank the 310Nutrition shake at 11:15 and it's now 1: 19 and I'm not really hungry yet. That's pretty darn impressive.

 

So what does all this mean for me? I think the 310Nutrition shake is a great alternative to Shakeology. I might continue to buy it and use it as snacks between meals as long as I don't notice any difference in my progress.

I will also get my husband's opinion too to see what his thoughts are and let you know!