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! 

 

 

 

21 Day Fix Extreme, One week down!

I finished one FULL week of my 21 Day Fix Extreme challenge! I want to give you a little recap of how it went. Day one was great. Day two I got hungry. Day three I got REALLY hungry. Day four I felt like I was going to pass out. So I decided to reevaluate what I was doing. I ended up using MyFitnessPal to calculate the actual calories I was consuming and even though I was eating EVERY container allotted to me, I was barely breaking 1000 calories in a day. NOT cool. So, I decided to move up to the next level which allows me to have one more purple (fruit), one more yellow (grains), one more green (veggies), and two extra teaspoons of oils or nut butters. BEST DECISION!!!! I have so much more energy. I'm so glad I listened to my body instead of trying to stay strict to the program.

Other than that slight hiccup, here's what I can tell you about the program so far. All of the workouts have been HARD. I typically do cardio and HIIT workouts, and occasionally throw in some weights. These workouts use weights pretty much the whole time so you get a mix of strength and cardio. I don't burn as many calories as I'm used to, but I'm going to trust that she knows what she's doing and I'll see results anyway. Every day I've been sore in new places and I can tell I'm targeting areas that I'm not used to working out, so that's good. The great thing is that they are only 30 minutes long, so even though I have to push really hard, it's over quickly.

All of the recipes I've made from the book they provide you with have been awesome. Everything tastes great. The beef/butternut squash stew is my favorite so far (I ate it so fast I didn't get to snap a picture of it). My husband agreed that it was better than my old stew recipe! I've been eating small portions throughout the day. I am a big snacker, so having smaller meals and lots of snacks is helpful. For some reason yesterday, I was REALLY hungry again, so I added in some extra protein and veggies so that I wouldn't be tempted to binge on something unhealthy. Overall I got about 1600 calories yesterday, which is almost 200 more than I'm supposed to have, but I figure that one day won't undo the rest of the week.

Here are some of the recipes I've tried:

Turkey lettuce wraps, one green and one red container.

This is a "mini egg cup" from her recipe book, I just like to cut mine up and put it on a piece of sprouted grain toast. The great part is I can eat TWO of these as breakfast. Two mini muffins equal one green and one red and the two pieces of toast count as two yellow. Filling and delicious. And did I mention COFFEE is allowed!?

I've been doing salads for lunch with baked chicken breast and I've made two of the dressing recipes from the recipe book. Both were very tasty. I've also found I can use half an orange container of dressing and use the other half for pumpkin seeds! This is one green, one red, one blue, and one orange.

This was my own recipe of spaghetti squash with meat sauce, one red container, one green container, and one purple container.

 

And this is the turkey meatloaf from the recipe book. This was really good and filling and the potion size is great. I had mine with sweet potato and broccoli. This meatloaf is one red, 1/2 yellow, 1/2 purple. Then my sides were one yellow and one green.

I also have to admit that I'm cheating in one small way. I'm adding about 1.5 teaspoons of honey to my plain Greek yogurt and I don't even care because no matter how much fruit you add to it, PLAIN yogurt tastes horrible. It's about 8 grams of sugar, but I'm willing to do that instead of gag through a snack.

So, week one is in the books. I have been tempted to have beer, wine, and candy and I've resisted! I don't feel bloated at all and I've lost 1.6 lbs. Which is a great healthy loss in my opinion.

21 Day Fix Extreme

I've been working out almost daily for about a year and a half. I do a little bit of everything-- running, kettlebells, HIIT, zumba, weight lifting, yoga, spin, barre, and whatever else comes along that looks like a good workout. In that time, I've built up a lot of endurance, changed my attitude toward fitness, built a bit of muscle, and managed to lose some weight.

Here's the thing, this whole time, I've been eating WHATEVER I WANT. All the donuts, all the chocolate, whole bags of twizzlers, ALL THE BEERS, all the boxes of wine. I mean it. I would start the day fine, but once my kids would lay down for their nap and I started to feel sluggish at 2pm, I'd grab the BAG of twizzlers from the cabinet and go through the entire thing. I used to justify this kind of eating because I worked out REALLY hard, but the truth is, I have gained back a solid 8 pounds and despite how much time I spend working out, the scale won't budge.

Finally, I realized that I need to change the way I'm eating. I know that my affinity for sugar is terrible for my body and I can see that my sugar addiction is being passed on to my kids. As it turns out, I am not good at doing things in moderation. Some people can have a bite of chocolate and feel satisfied. I'll  eat all of the chocolate in my house and then go out and buy more for the next day. SERIOUSLY. So I decided to try a program that does not allow any 'cheats or treats' because like a true addict, even a tiny bit of a treat could send me off the deep end. That's how I ended up choosing 21 Day Fix Extreme. It's a BeachBody program by Autumn Calabrese and since I've had success with a lot of their workout programs, I decided to go for it. She has the original 21 Day Fix, but I chose the Extreme version because the workouts are harder and it's better for someone like me who is already into fitness and exercise but needs to push past a plateau.

 

The idea is that you calculate your calorie bracket (they walk you through this, easy peasy) and then you are allotted a certain amount of proteins, veggies, fruits, grains, healthy fats, nuts/dressings, and oils/nut butters. You're given little color coded containers to help you portion out your food and as long as it fits in the container, you can eat it. Obviously, you can't fill one with twizzlers and call it a day, but they give you recipe ideas and lists of healthy foods to plan your meals.  You also get 2 discs with daily workouts on them which include combinations of cardio, weights, yoga, and pilates.

Sunday I spent a LOT of time planning out my meals for the week. It was kind of tricky to get each day balanced out to include all of the food that I was supposed to eat. Then I went to the grocery store, bought all my supplies and started prepping. I made a few items on Sunday night to keep in my fridge for easy meals, but I mostly will just make things as I go. I am also trying Shakeology for the first time, which I will write about at another time.

Yesterday was my first official day on the program. It went surprisingly well. In fact, the only downfall I had was that I was so full by the end of the day that I didn't get in my last container of veggies. I think today might be better because I know what to expect for the day. The only time I was actually hungry where I could have found myself in a mindset to reach for treat was right before dinner time when I was cooking, but I knew dinner would be ready soon and I was able to push past that.

Even ONE day without processed sugar is a HUGE accomplishment for me. I know that some days are going to be REALLY hard. Especially because Easter falls within the next 21 days and I know I will be strongly tempted by all of the treats around me. However, I'm trying to set myself up for success by focusing on each day at a time. I'm also going to try to document this whole process on here so that I might feel more accountable and hopefully help anyone else who is trying the program. I can't promise to post daily, but I'll at least try to check in regularly.

Fifty Shades of Shut the !@#& up.

BLAH!

I hate this whole "Fifty Shades of Grey" thing. The trailer just came out for the movie, set to open on Valentine's day 2015 and now everyone on the interwebz is talking about it (including me, I realize). I read the books, emphasis on the S; as there are more than one book. I read them for fun, for enjoyment. They were not well written, they were simple, easy to read, sexy - FUN. Did the characters piss me off? Yes. Did I think the writing was second rate, at best? Yes. Did I read them on vacation while I was laying on the beach? Yes.

Honestly, before today, this movie wouldn't have even crossed my mind again until my husband and I decide to rent it from Redbox some night next year when we have a full bottle of wine and the kids are tucked into bed.

The reason I'm talking about it today is because I made the mistake of reading an idiotic blog post written by a MAN about the four reasons why every WOMAN should boycott the 50 Shades movie. Let me just preface this by saying that after a little bit of exploration on his blog, it turns out that this man and I have VERY different opinions when it comes to marriage, sex, religion, etc. So clearly, his opinions on the matter are going to differ quite a bit from mine.

My first problem with this blog was that it was a MAN telling the women of America that they should avoid this movie. Because you know, we women can never have enough men telling us what to do.

My second problem with his position is that he never read the books. As I mentioned before, the writing is not superb, but I don't think that was the goal of the author anyway. Sometimes you just need to enjoy a book for what it is, but if you haven't even read it, how can you feel so strongly against it? I will agree when he says this is not art. That is true. It is not art. Is not meant to move you. It is meant to make you move to your sex dungeon, with your lover and an array of toys.

Third, he makes it about religion. I won't get into the debate surrounding this one, but I will say that my personal belief is that God (or whoever you prefer) created the act of sex to be enjoyed by both males and females and in many different forms - even if that involves a riding crop and two (or more) willing participants.

Fourth, he claims you aren't a feminist if you support the movie. Because this man, who is condemning women who decide to watch this movie, is apparently Feminist of the Year. Let me explain something- every woman has a choice to watch this movie or not. Every woman has a choice to read erotic novels or not. Honestly, I think this whole "Fifty Shades" phenomenon is a good thing for females. When the books came out, it was as though men all over were just learning that women enjoy sex outside of the context of the physical activity that takes place in a kitchen, shower, car, dark alley, bedroom. Wait, women like reading erotic stories? Women like sex? Women might actually enjoy watching pornographic scenes in a movie like this?! What kind of women are these? I'll tell you who - mothers, nurses, physicians, professors, social workers, scientists, philanthropists, teachers and the list goes on. Sex does not belong to men. Pornography does not belong to men. Arousal and excitement about sexual possibilities do not belong to men. So what if a woman enjoys being dominated in the bedroom? If I recall correctly, the main female character ENJOYED the sexual acts that occurred between herself and Mr Grey. Does that mean she can't be a feminist? I certainly don't think so.

For me, this debate is not about the Fifty Shades movie, but about what is and has been socially acceptable in terms of women's sexuality for years and years. The truth is, women are sexual beings with sexual desires that match or exceed those of our male counterparts. This book series and now movie just acted as an introduction of erotic entertainment for men and women into the social mainstream. Let's be honest, men and women alike have been reading and watching pornographic and erotic content for years. Stereotypically it has been accepted and publicized as having a male audience, but we are finally seeing that many women are also part of this audience. In my opinion, this should not be shocking. This should not be reason to boycott a movie or book. Is this movie going to harm the future of my children or my children's children? I find that very unlikely. So if you want to go see 50 Shades of Grey on Valentine's day with your husband, lover, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, best friend - please, enjoy it. And if you choose to forgo it in order to stay home and act out your own sexual fantasies, more power to you. As for me, I think I'll just stay in and watch PornHub with my husband instead. At least they are planting trees . If I can't be a feminist, at least I can be an environmentalist.

Sucked back in

Because I'm the youngest of four kids, I grew up without a lot of things my siblings had mostly because by the time my mom got to me, she was exhausted, forgot, or just realized I'd be fine without them. For example, I don't have a baby book or a baby blanket or any of that stuff that most kids (and each of my siblings) have. Besides the countless therapy sessions I've required due to the absence of these things, I've ultimately been able to live a normal life despite not being able to look back on these items and passing them on to my kids (I'm kidding mom, relax). Yet, I've tried to make it a point to do these things for both of my kids so that some day they won't be able to give me a guilt trip in some blog or whatever other kind of public forum their generation comes up with. I mean, I'm sure they are going to find plenty of things to give me mom guilt about, but I am at least trying to keep their therapy sessions to a minimum.

So, since my last post, I succumbed to the mommy guilt (they're already doing it!) of having made a 'quiet book' for one kid and not the other. Not that my one-year-old would even know, sit still long enough to look at it, or not be able to grow into a stable human being without it. Yet, I still felt the need to delve back into the crafting abyss and make a one-year-old version of a quiet book. I'll be honest, hers looks like a total half-assed version of what I did for my three-year-old, but I didn't want to make one full of small pieces that she would swallow/choke on/stick in her orifices. And honestly, I'm too lazy to make two really awesome things in one week. Instead, I made a numbers and shapes 'lift-the-flap' book. It's good enough for her to destroy or ignore during our flight:

Again, this was done with just felt, scissors, and glue. Then I just hand sewed the 'pages' together to make it into a book. I might end up reinforcing the flaps with a couple of stitches so they will be harder to rip off of the pages. Super simple and easy. I bet she'll love ripping the glued-on stuff off and putting them in her mouth just to prove a point. Then one day she can get on a public forum and bitch about the fact that I made her a shoddy version of her brother's book that she choked on in-flight.

I'll just start saving for therapy now.