Mommies & Muscles Meat Lovers Clean Spaghetti

Have I mentioned lately, how much I LOVE FOOD?! Well, I do, especially hearty comfort food. Spaghetti is probably one of my favorites, but it can be detrimental to your weight loss and fitness results. I came up with this mouth-watering, CLEAN, Paleo-approved meat lovers spaghetti that you'll be begging for me. If you're not a big fan of meat or are vegetarian, just omit the meat. It's still delicious either way. Oh, and you can store it in the fridge and eat it the next day. It store well, in my opinion. Bring it to work and pop it in the microwave for a few minutes and you're good to go, feeling satisfied for hours.

Recipe

A 2/3 cup serving of spaghetti squash has about 30 calories and 5 percent of the recommended daily intake of dietary fiber.

The real highlight of spaghetti squash is from the high antioxidants. In addition it's a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B6, and manganese.

If you're trying to lose weight, swapping out your pasta for spaghetti squash will keep you fuller due to the high amount of fiber.

Squashes can also be stored for quite a long time- up to weeks!

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash The Easy Way

Wash and dry the spaghetti squash.

Cooking in the microwave:

*Slice the squash lengthwise to create 2 large halves. 

*Scoop out the seeds and discard them. 

*Place one half of the squash in the microwave for 7-10 minutes or both halves for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of squash & microwave. *Let cool in microwave for 5 minutes. *Remove from microwave with oven mitts if they are still really warm.

*Then, scoop out the insides with a spoon and separate strands with a fork. 

Cooking in oven:

*Put the entire squash on a baking sheet lined with foil.

*Cook at 400 degrees F for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how big your squash is.

*After taking it out of the oven, take a knife and cut it in half. Be careful: do not put your face near the squash. There will be some steam coming out at you!

*Use a spoon and scoop out the seeds. It might help to also use a scissor to cut some of the strands that connect the seeds.

*Use a fork and separate the strands. The flesh will come right off!

How to Make Homemade Tomato Sauce

Fresh tomatoes are hard to find in winter months, especially Iowa, so you can also use canned all natural tomato sauce. Or if your pressed for time, grab a jar of organic pre-made tomato sauce. I like Trader Joe's. 

Grass fed beef can be expensive. I purchase it in bulk or search for bargains at the local grocery stores. Even some target stores have a few grass fed beef options. Grass-fed beef is free from hormone free and cattle raised on grass (i.e. Grass-fed beef :) 

Ingredients:

1 lb grass-fed ground beef

1/2 cup light olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small green bell pepper, diced

6-8 large tomatoes *

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce

2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 cup fresh basil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

optional: dash of coconut sugar to season

*If you use canned tomatoes, reduce the olive oil to 2 tablespoons only

Instructions:

*Sauté chopped garlic and onions in olive oil for a few minutes, until translucent.

*Combine ground beef and green pepper in a large saucepan. 

*Cook and stir until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. 

*Drain grease.

*Stir tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. 

*Season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. 

*Simmer spaghetti sauce for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Serve homemade spaghetti sauce over large helping of spaghetti squash. Mmmm mmm good! 

This even tastes good warmed up the next day. Just store in a storage container in the fridge and microwave for a few minutes to warm it up. 

Easy Breezy Low Carb Chocolate Falafels or Pancakes

Pictured above: chocolate falafel 

I have fun making recipes. Sometimes, they turn out scrumptious, and well other times, they're quite disgusting. Here's my latest invention, Chocolate Falafel's. Did I mention, they're healthy & low carb? I know, how exciting. They taste better than they look in the picture.

Here's how you do it...

Chocolate Falafels:

Shake 1/2 cup or 2 egg whites and 1/2 scoop chocolate Beachbody whey protein powder in a shaker cup or blender (best option). Pour the mixture into a large skillet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cook on med-high heat for a few minutes, then when you can easily pick the pancake up with a spatula, flip & cook the other side for about a minute. Serve plain, with sugar-free syrup or PB2 mixed according to package directions & Enjoy. 

For chocolate pancakes: 

Place 1/4-1/2 cup plain oatmeal in a food processor until oatmeal becomes fine. Add the oatmeal to your shaker or blender (best option) with egg whites & whey. Blend well. Cook based on directions above.

I like using ground flaxseed meal for recipes to make it heart healthy (flax is jam-packed with omega-3). You can add it in place of the oatmeal for a nuttier, lower carb option. You can also play around with ingredients to add such as cocoa powder, PB2, stevia or a little honey, etc. 

Savory broiled salmon with fresh steamed broccoli & sweet red peppers

Ingredients: (quantity can be modified depending on number of servings needed)

frozen or fresh salmon fillets (4oz each fillet) 

One red pepper

Fresh broccoli florets

Broiler pan

Pepper to taste

Non-stick cooking spray

Note: Don't skimp on the salmon. Fresh is best but can be pricey, so frozen fillets are a great option. If you choose frozen, go for the moderate to higher quality with or without the skin.

Directions: 

Let frozen salmon fillets thaw in the refrigerator overnight or if individually wrapped, you can place in a container of room temperature water until thawed (about 10 min). No need to remove wrapper prior to thawing. Do not thaw in the microwave. If you chose fresh salmon, cut salmon into 4oz fillets and leave the skin on.

Prep the broiler pan by placing water in the bottom of tray (enough to cover bottom) and spray non-stick cooking spray on top (where salmon will go). 

Rinse red pepper and broccoli. Remove & discard the seeds from red pepper and cut the pepper into strips or pieces of desired size. Chop stalks off of broccoli and place florets in microwave safe dish. Put 1/4 cup water in bottom of dish. Add cut red peppers into dish with broccoli.

Turn broiler on high. Remove wrapper from salmon fillets. Place fillets on broiler pan, skin side down (if fresh). Sprinkle each fillet with black pepper. Place broiler pan in oven about 4-6inches from heat. Set timer to 5 minutes. After broiling for 5 minutes, flip fillet to cook other side for an additional 5 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. 

When there is about 2 minutes left for salmon to cook, put red pepper/broccoli in microwave. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove steamed vegetables from the microwave & drain water.

When everything is complete serve & enjoy. 

Crusted Parmesan-Herb Zucchini Bites

Ingredients

• 4 medium, fresh zucchini, sliced in half
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary & thyme, minced
• smidge of olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350F, lightly brush both sizes of the zucchini with olive oil and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Mix cheese and herbs together in a small bowl and sprinkle over the zucchini along with salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 15 minutes and place under the broiler for the last 3-5 minutes until cheese is crispy and browned.

Recipe by Elle, registered dietitian and writer for nutrionella.com

http://nutritionella.com/2013/06/crusty-parmesan-herb-zucchini-bites/