Baked Turkey & Spaghetti Squash Casserole!

Nothing says cooler weather like I nice, warm, hearty casserole! 

Try my Turkey & Spaghetti Squash Casserole: easy, healthy and filling!

First, start with your spaghetti squash and cook it in the oven at 400 for about 20 or 30 minutes:

After it has cooked a little, take it out of the oven and slice it in half. 

Let cool for a bit and start stringing out the squash into your bakeware.

Once the squash has been used up, add a can of diced tomatoes:

Then add in two cut up zucchinis and ground turkey meat:

You can put these both in un-cooked and they will cook up just fine while it's baking.

Mix all ingredients together and then sprinkle some shredded Parmesan cheese on top:

Pop it in the oven (I left it at 400) and bake for about 30 or 40 minutes. About when the edges start to brown. 

I think this is a great winter time dish and can last in the fridge all week! Or it's a nice addition to any Holiday dinner party!

It sneaks in lots of veggies and is still very filling!

You can mix up the types of veggies or omit the turkey for a vegetarian option :)

What's your favorite casserole recipe?!

Full Body Circuit!

This is what I did on Sunday! I didn't really feel like going for a run, so I did an at home circuit in the yard!

All you need for this workout:

Here's your workout!

Sunday's Full Body Circuit:

- 100 rope skips

- 20 alternating weighted side lunges

- 20 bicep curls

- 100 rope skips

- 20 weighted squats

- 20 bent over rows

- 100 rope skips

- 20 weighted forward lunges

- 20 standing crunches (weighted/alternating)

- Rest

- Repeat x 3!

 

Doesn't take all day and can sure get the heart pumping! 

Easy Last Minute Thanksgiving Appetizer: Bacon Wrapped Scallops!

Can you say yuuuuuum?!

I mean, basically anything wrapped in bacon is delicious in my book! 

This appetizer really doesn't take much effort and basically only has two ingredients:

 For a batch of 12

- 1 package of all-natural bacon

- 12 large sea scallops

- salt and pepper

For each scallop I wrapped one piece of bacon completely around it and fastened with a tooth pick. There were a couple of smaller scallops so I decided to just use half a strip on bacon for those and maximize the outcome!

Once they were all wrapped up I sprinkled them with some cracked black pepper and sea salt:

Next, I sprayed a baking sheet with some non-stick spray and popped them in the oven at 350:

These took about 40 minutes in the oven and I flipped them once towards the end to try and get the bacon a little more crispy on each side. 

So good!

I didn't make a sauce or anything (skipping out on extra calories) and I really don't think they needed them! The scallops stayed juicy and the bacon had plenty of flavor to satisfy! 

Like I said, easy! And I bet these items will still be available at the grocery store! 

You can't beat bacon!

Are you making any apps for Thanksgiving this year?!

Healthy (ish) Brownies for Thanksgiving!

Ok, so the Holidays are extremely hard when it comes to eating healthy!

Here's a super easy and quick brownie recipe where you can skip the oil, eggs, and butter!

And better yet it only takes two ingredients! Two!

That's right! All you need is one can of pumpkin and one box of brownie mix!

All you need to do is mix the two together in a large bowl:

Then spread it out into a pan to bake:

I left them in the oven at 350 for about 35 minutes (will depend on thickness of pan). 

When I took them out they were super soft and gooey! 

The pumpkin kept the batch moist and it also provides lots of antioxidants and vitamins! More so than filling the brownies with oil and eggs :)

They had great flavor and will be perfect for gifting or for a Holiday dessert!

These will certainly satisfy your chocolate craving with out too much of the heavy stuff!

Favorite Bars of the Moment!

I am not a HUGE fan of protein/meal replacement bars because I believe we need to get our nutrients from fresh, real, whole foods. However, when in a pinch a bar can be a great alternative and can often provide a healthier choice when on the run!

These are my two favorite bars of the moment:

These Think Thin bars have 0 grams of sugar! 

Sugar is one of the major things to look at when choosing a bar. Bars may look small, but they can often be packed with sugar! You definitely do not want to be snacking on tons of sugar!

These bars also have 20 grams of protein! This is a great way to keep you full for a longer period of time.

My favorite flavors are: Brownie Crunch and Creamy Peanut Butter!

The other bars I'm loving are made by Balance:

These Balance Bars are gluten free and pack 13 grams of protein! 

Their flavors are super yummy too: Dark Chocolate Crunch and Dark Chocolate Coconut! They practically taste like a sweet treat rather than a meal bar! 

Both of these brands can be found for pretty cheap, about $1 per bar! 

I keep one in my purse, backpack or the car, at all times! That way if I'm ever caught feeling hungry when I'm on the go, then I know I have a healthy, quick option.

Sometimes I eat a couple bites or half of a bar before a morning workout so that I have some fuel for my body to burn off!

Are you digging any bars lately?!

Today's Workout and Yummy Breakfast!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Today I started out with a yummy scramble: 

Ingredients: 2 eggs, sliced turkey, fresh spinach, sunkist tomatoes, and cheese!

I cooked up the turkey a little before scrambling everything together along with the spinach so it would wilt nicely :) Once the pan was heated I added the eggs, cheese and tomatoes. It takes about two minutes for everything to cook up, and there you have it!

I even made extra of this so that I could portion it out for the rest of the week! Talk about easy! 

I was a little crunched for time on a workout so I decided to do another stair/bench workout!

Here's the workout:

-20 push ups on bench

-20 calf raises

-20 step ups w/ knee drive (alternating):

Then hit the stairs!

Complete 5 times! No rest in between ;) 

I had a few extra minutes, so I did three more runs on the stairs for a burn out!

I was feeling good!

Here's the workout breakdown:

-20 bench push-ups

-20 calf raises

-20 step up w/ knee drive (alternating)

-stair run (4 levels/2 flights each)

Complete 5x with no rest! 

And of course, you can always add on more stairs for a burn out! 

You can pretty much do this workout anywhere! You don't even need a bench, you can use the stairs for resistance too!

Make sure to hydrate and re-fuel!

My after workout snack today:

 

An apple a day! Right now my favorites are Macintosh! The perfect fall fruit :)

What is your favorite kind of apple!? 

Kettle Bell Interval Workout for Home or Gym!

Here's an interval workout for the home or gym!

You can do it while watching a guilty pleasure TV show!

All you need is:
-1 Kettle bell (a dumbbell will work too)
-1 gymboss timer (or other interval timer)

Set your timer to 40 seconds on (work) and 20 seconds off (rest).

You will complete 5 moves and complete 5 rounds.

1. Jumping Jacks:

2. Alternating 1 arm kettle bell swings:

Hi Reef!

3. Russian twists: 

(Try to keep feet off the floor, put them down if you need a rest)

4. Kettle goblet squats:

(Push hips back, knees do not exceed the toes)

5. Alternating Forward lunge w/ kettle twist:

That's all it takes to get some good cardio going and work up a nice sweat! 

Make sure to hydrate after!

Egg White Mini Quiches!

Easy Egg White Quiches, great for weekly meal prep!

All you need is a carton of egg whites, fresh spinach, and cheese ( I used a 5 cheese blend).

I chopped up some of the spinach bunch:

Then, in a small bowl I mixed the whole carton of egg whites with the spinach and cheese:

After mixing a bit, I poured it into 10 wells of a muffin tin:

One carton of egg whites is about 10 eggs, so this is about one egg per well :)

Next, slide the tray into the oven at 350 degrees:

I cooked them for about 20-30 minutes. I used a knife to poke down each one so that the moisture would come out, and they would bake thoroughly.

The tops will become a little browned when they are done:

These came out great and are great for a quick breakfast or snack! So, I just stored them in some Tupperware for the week:

Did you no any meal prep this week?!

Spaghetti Squash "Pasta"!

If you haven't figured out yet, I am a huge fan of creating healthy Italian inspired meals!

Here's how I made my spaghetti squash pasta dish:

Start out with one whole spaghetti squash:

Preheate the oven to 350 and stick the whole squash in on a baking sheet:

I let the squash bake for a bit before cutting it, since it was WAY too hard at first :) so when it is partially baked, pull it out of the oven and slice it in half and put it back in the oven:

I put it in cut side up, but I think you can do it either way. 

When the squash was getting close to done, I started to heat up a skillet with olive oil and some seasoning for the "pasta" fixins:

Tonight's was fresh green beans and chicken meatballs:

As those are cooking up, I took the spaghetti squash out and started shredding it!

I shredded both halves and got so much "pasta"!

For the sauce I used some fresh pesto from the refrigerated section at the store:

I threw about half of the container in the skillet with the meatballs and green beans, and that was that!

This came out so great! The feeling of eating a big plate of pasta with out the bloated feelings later! 

And did I mention the spaghetti squash was only 99 cents?! A lot of bang for your buck! We had lots of spaghetti squash left over.

What I also love about this meal is it can be done multiple ways, so look out for my recipes for leftovers!