low carb

Lemon Chicken Quinoa Soup

October 7, 2015

Since it is getting cooler outside, people are starting to cozy up and make soups in their crock-pots. Most soups can be high calorie and make you feel like hibernating after eating them… so here is how we avoid that feeling by boosting the nutrients in our soups!

Most people assume you need noodles, rice, or potatoes to have a soup… but you can actually use quinoa instead! Find out why quinoa is one of my favorite grains HERE!

So here is my recipe for one of our favorite fall soups made in a crock-pot.

INGREDIENTS:

4 organic chicken breasts, whole
2 containers of organic chicken broth
3 stalks of organic celery, chopped
1 organic leek, chopped
5 organic carrots, sliced
1 cup organic red quinoa
1 organic lemon, sliced
1/2 tbsp. organic dill weed
salt/pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Place all chicken and broth into your crock-pot. Add celery, leek, carrots, lemon, and dill to your crock-pot and let cook on high for 5-6 hours or until chicken is done.

After adding all of your ingredients to your crock-pot, place your quinoa in a bowl of water off to the side to soak as shown below. I will also add extra water to the crock-pot depending on how much broth I have. Here I used both containers of broth and about 1 cup of water.

After your chicken has finished cooking, take out all chicken and shred chicken with a fork. The chicken should just fall apart as you scrape it. Once shredded, put it back into your crock-pot.

Strain water from your quinoa and add quinoa to your crock-pot 30 minutes before you plan to eat.

**Note: I always use red quinoa because it does not get mushy.

Please feel free to salt/pepper to taste. And 30 minutes later, voila! You have a healthy and flavorful soup!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post and please feel free to share using the social media icons below!

Planning Low Carb Egg Muffins For Breakfast!

September 2, 2015

Egg muffins are so versatile when it comes to flavors within your egg mixture! This is where you can get a great variety of vegetables, herbs and spices. I’ll let you know what I used so you can have a healthy serving of vegetables with breakfast. It’s basically an omelet on the go! Here is what you’ll need:

INGREDIENTS:

1 dozen organic eggs
1 pack turkey bacon
3 peppers (1 green, orange, yellow)
1 cup spinach
1 small pack pepper jack cheese, shredded
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First crack your dozen eggs and dispose of your shells. Place in a mixing bowl to be used a little later.

Next, chop your turkey bacon and cook it in a skillet on medium heat for 10 minutes or until done.

While bacon is cooking, chop all peppers and spinach and add to your mixing bowl.

Add your cheese, turmeric and garlic powder to your mixing bowl.

Once bacon is finished, add it to mixing bowl.

Mix all ingredients in your bowl thoroughly and begin ladling your egg mixture into your muffin pan.

Once all 12 sections of your 4 oz muffin pan is filled, place in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

To check if muffins are completely cooked, stab center muffin with a tooth pick.

Once muffins are done, place all 12 muffins on the cooling rack and repeat process until entire mixture is cooked.

Once cooled, refrigerate for your week.

Reheating instructions:

Microwave muffin for 30 seconds.

This is a great low carb grab-and-go breakfast you can have meal prepped for your week. If you want to add more carbs you can use a toasted sandwich thin to make a sandwich!

If you know someone who could benefit from this recipe, please share using the social media icons below!

Enjoy!

Creamy Scalloped Garlic and Herb Chayote

July 28, 2015

I am BEYOND excited to share a new recipe I threw together last night! Chayote is an excellent non-starchy vegetable that most people in the United States are not familiar with. To learn more, click HERE. I would also like to add this dish is bariatric friendly! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 chayote
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon of sage
1 teaspoon of oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup green onions, chopped

First you want to wash the outside of your chayote and then peel with a potato peeler.

It helps me to cut them in half to be sure I peel all of the skin off in the crevice. There is also a thin seed inside, so do remove that as well.

Once your chayote is all peeled, slice them into very thin slices.

Here is where I added the olive oil, chopped garlic, Italian seasoning, oregano, and sage (The garlic powder will be saved for later ). I stirred the chayote around to evenly distribute all of the seasonings and coat the pan with the olive oil, then covered the pan. Place the skillet on medium heat for about 5 minutes then stir.

Once the chayote is very soft (enough to slice in half), I drained the liquid and moved the mixture to a bowl. This is where I added the Greek yogurt and garlic powder. You can definitely add more seasonings for flavor if you like stronger flavors!

To complete the dish, I sprinkled some chopped green onions on top! You will now have a healthy, low fat, high protein replacement for creamy scalloped potatoes!

Enjoy!