Recipes

Veggie Quesadillas

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Sometimes you just need an easy dinner–tonight was one of those times.  As I was roasting up some broccoli and cauliflower, I decided to go with a veggie quesadillas.

I threw half of a sliced green pepper into a saute pan along with 1 minced garlic clove, 1/4 cup sliced white mushrooms, and this little fella I grew in my garden:

Into the pan:

Once the veggies were tender, I loaded up half of a Joseph’s Low Carb Pita with 1 cup each of roasted broccoli and cauliflower and the sautéed veggies:

Topped everything off with a thinly sliced light babybel cheese round:

and threw onto the george foreman til the cheese was melty and the pita was crispy:

Then I topped it off with 2 tbsp Fat Free Breakstones, 1/4 cup chopped red onion, 1/2 of a roma tomato, and some banana peppers:

One bite in, I added a couple sprinkles of Franks Red hot:

Mmm hmmm good.

Easy dinner, but kitchen still got destroyed:

Stats on the veggie quesadilla:  229 calories, 33g carbs, 6g fat, 18g protein, 9g fiber

Time to get my clean on!

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What I ate

I put ketchup on my ketchup

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While on vacation in Charleston, we came across several touristy shops selling t-shirts with funny sayings.  Jarrod seriously contemplated buying me this T-shirt:

Hahaha… I do use ketchup quite frequently.  I’m just a class act like that 😉

Breakfast #1

Last in the trio of eggwhite/turkey sausage scrambles I made Sunday night… Served up with a dollop of you-know-what 😉

Stats on Scramble, Broccoli, & Ketchup:  180 calories, 10g carbs, 5g fat, 24g protein, 2g fiber

Breakfast #2

I started breakfast #2 off with some Blueberry Cho-cho-chobani:

Then I added some strawberries (in my hunger-tinged excitement, I forgot to use my flash…)

MMMMMMMM…. Come clooosssseeerrr:

So darn good.

Stats on B#2:  157 calories, 24g carbs, 0g fat, 14g protein, 1g fiber

Lunch

 The turkey meatloaf I made last night was so yummy, I immediately had a craving for a meatloaf sandwich!  Needless to say, I was SUPER excited about my lunch today.  

I sliced up one of the turkey meat muffins:

I placed the cold slices of meatloaf on a Pepperidge Farm 7 Grain Deli Flat, and then added the star of the show:  KETCHUP.

That’s what actually made me think of the ketchup on ketchup T-shirt.  Even though my turkey meatloaf had ketchup mixed in and was thoroughly basted with ketchup before baking, I still needed to put some ketchup on my leftover meatloaf sandwich 😀

Match made in heaven:

Heinz — if you’re looking for a new “face” for your ketchup, have your people contact my people.  ferventfoodie@gmail.com 😉

On the side, I also had a cup each of roasted cauliflower and broccoli:

One AMAZING lunch:

Makes me feel like a kid again 🙂

Side note

Over the weekend I made the BF a beautiful banana granola parfait.  Apparently he liked it so much, he decided to recreate it in my workweek absence:

I love that he even went the extra mile and put it in a pretty glass.  Sometimes ya just gotta treat yourself, am I right? 

QUESTION:  What is your FAVORITE condiment?  OR do you like ketchup on your ketchup? :mrgreen:

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Recipes

Turkey Meat Muffins

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Tonight for dinner I made some Turkey Meat Muffins! 😯

Alright, alright, that just sounds gross… I really made turkey meatloaf in a jumbo muffin tin 🙂

I had the full intention of following Gina’s Skinny Taste recipe to a T, but impatience got the best of me and I messed a few things up. Woopsie!

First I mixed up the following in a bowl:

  • 1/2 package Nature’s Valley 99% Fat Free Ground Turkey Breast (leftover from the stuffed zucchini I made Sunday)
  • 1/2 tsp olive oil
  • 1/4 of a white onion, chopped (per Gina’s recipe, these were supposed to be sautéed.. but I missed that step)
  • 1/4 cup quick oats
  • 2 tbsp ketchup 😀
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/2 tsp Marjoram
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Black pepper
  • 1 tsp worcesterchire (this was supposed to go on TOP of the meatloaves.. oops again)

Into the tub:

Once combined, I evenly distributed the mix into two jumbo meat muffins (I don’t know why, but “meat muffin” makes me giggle 😉 )

Then I basted the top with about a tbsp of ketchup mixed up with a dash of worcesterchire:

These cooked in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time, I put a cup each of cauliflower and broccoli into the oven to roast. I usually roast my veggies at 415 degrees for 15 minutes, so I put these veggies in for an extra 5 minutes since the oven was at a cooler temp.

I seasoned the broccoli with S&P and garlic powder and the cauliflower with S&P, garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes.

When I opened the oven to put the veggies in, it smelled EXACTLY like my mom’s meatloaf (must be the smell of baking ketchup 😆 ) I got pretty excited at this point, and was glad I made 2 meat muffins so I’ll have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Woo hoo!

All baked up:

I served this meat muffin up with some Heinz 57, because that’s what any self-respecting meatloaf eater should do:

All together:

Two thumbs up!!! All of my mistakes made for one TASTY dinner 🙂

Stats on 1 turkey meat muffin: 235 calories, 15g carbs, 4g fat, 36g protein, 1g fiber

Stats on the whole shebang: 305 calories, 30g carbs, 4g fat, 40g protein, 6g fiber

 

Off to mow the lawn…..

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Recipes

Zucchini Pancakes

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Sometimes life is just about compromises.  Tonight, I had a serious craving for some french fries… a big ole mound of french fries and some ketchup.. mmmmm….

In lieu of this, I opted for a big ole salad…  hmm big ole salad vs. big ole mound of french fries?  That’s not exactly a fair fight…

My salad consisted of:

  • 1/2 bag fresh express romaine
  • 2.5 ounces grilled chicken breast
  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1/4 cup red onion
  • 1/4 cup white mushrooms
  • 2 tbsp Ken’s Steakhouse Lite Italian Romano dressing

 

Not exactly a french-fry-craving cure… but darn tasty in its own right. 

Stats on the salad:  204 calories, 18g carbs, 6g fat, 17g protein, 5g fiber

To help curb my desire for some grease, I decided to try out this recipe I found for Zucchini Pancakes on Gina’s Skinny Taste blog. 

Here’s what went in to my zucchini pancakes:

  • 1 medium zucchini, shredded
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped chives (holler at you, backyard garden 😉 )
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 large egg white
  • 2 tsp DiGiorno Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp each S&P
  • Sprinkling of red pepper flakes

I combined everything up, then heated up a skillet I had sprayed with some cooking spray.  Using a small cookie dough scooper, I dropped 3 pancakes into the pan.

One by one:

Batch #1 Finished Products:

These tasted AWESOME.  They really spoke to the onion-lover in me.  Only problem was they didn’t get crispy like a traditional potato pancake.  I tried several different methods, including flattening them out til they were very thin–but they just wouldn’t crisp up!  Maybe it’s the whole egg that helps to get them crispy–but regardless of the texture issues the taste was yum-o.

I tried one bite with some ketchup of course:

And I tried one bite with some Frank’s red hot:

(I preferred the ketchup in this case)

The zucchini pancake “batter” made 9 of these little fritters.  I ate 7 of them (I had to try one for each cooking method…. haha), and I saved two of them for breakfast tomorrow so I can see how well they heat up in the microwave.

Stats on 9 Zucchini Fritters (entire batter):  159 calories, 27g carbs, 2g fat, 11g protein, 2g fiber

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Ramblings, What I ate

Planning ahead

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When I’m busy at work, I try and do whatever I can to simplify my daily routine.  Oftentimes, this involves cooking meals in “batch” so that I don’t succumb to eating fast food to compensate for not having time to cook.

This past tax season, I was really hardcore about precooking meals.  Every Sunday I would set aside a couple hours and cook ALL of my meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for the workweek ahead of time.  This took a lot of planning and creativity on my part.  Since FerventFoodie.com didn’t come about until after tax season, I don’t have any documentation of my meal plans.  Guess we’ll have to wait til next tax season for that 😉

Breakfast #1

Last night, I decided to pre-cook a few things for the week.  I threw 3 chicken breasts and 3 Jennie O’s turkey sausages on the George Foreman grill to cook up.  I don’t have a plan in mind for the meat at this point — just hoping to simplify what I expect to be a very busy workweek!

I decided to use one of the turkey sausage links in an egg scramble.  I whisked up 11 egg whites and 1 whole egg with a splash of water.   Once in the pan, I seasoned with S&P and some Red Pepper Flakes.

When the eggs were about 1/2 way done scrambling, I added 1 chopped up turkey sausage link and a few splashes of Frank’s Red Hot.

I also roasted up 3 cups of broccoli.  When I roast veggies, I typically spray a heavy coat of cooking spray on a cookie sheet, toss the veggies around on it, then add S&P (and sometimes garlic powder, onion powder, or red pepper flakes).  Then, I cook in a 415 degree oven for 15 minutes. 

This mix made 3 lovely portion-controlled breakfasts:

One of which I enjoyed at work this morning with a dollop o’ ketchup:

I’m glad roasted veggies taste just as good when heated up in the microwave 😀

Stats on Scramble, Broccoli, & Ketchup:  180 calories, 10g carbs, 5g fat, 24g protein, 2g fiber

Breakfast #2

Chobani strawberry greek yogurt + 1/2 cup blueberries =

I <3 Greek Yogurt

Stats on B#2:  181 calories, 31g carbs, 0g fat, 15g protein, 3g fiber

 

Lunch

Last month, the BF and I made some zucchini turkey burgers.  Jarrod liked them so much, that he replaced the daily burger on his meal plan with a turkey burger.  When I was cooking all my foods up last night, I decided to help Jarrod out and make up his turkey burgers for the week… for the low LOW fee of one burger of course 😉

Here’s what went into the turkey burgers this time:

  • 1 package Nature’s Vally 99% Fat Free Ground Turkey Breast (about 20 ounces)
  • 1 small zucchini, grated
  • 1/3 cup red onion, grated
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes

This mix made four burgers, one of which I brought with me for lunch today.  I heated the burger up, then sandwiched it with a Pepperidge Farm 7 Grain Deli Flat, ketchup, mustard, tomato, and onion:

Side shot:

I also had a crap ton 2 cups of roasted cauliflower on the side:

I wish my lunches ALWAYS made me this happy!

Stats on just the turkey burger (no bun/toppings):  163 calories, 3g carbs, 2g fat, 33g protein, 0g fiber

Stats on whole lunch: 363 calories, 45g carbs, 3g fat, 44g protein, 12g fiber

Side note of the deli flats — I compared the backs of various brands and varieties of the “deli flat” style buns in the grocery store the other day.  Both Pepperidge Farm and the Arnold varieties were comparable — though the Pepperidge Farm deli flats have 2 less grams of carbs and 1 more gram of protein.  Not necessarily something to write home about, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless 🙂

(Screen shot taken from myfitnesspal.com)

Speaking of planning ahead, some things to look forward to in the coming months:

  • Healthy Living Summit in Chicago in August (shout out to my roommate Haya!)
  • Wedding in Columbus in September (I love weddings!)
  • Pittsburgh with mom/sister/brother in September
  • New Orleans in October
  • My Annual Halloween Spooktacular 😀
  • And the holidays….

I have a feeling the rest of this year is going to FLY.  Plus, I’m hoping we can squeeze in another trip to Charlotte before year-end….

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